Baekje, the kingdom of three capitals

When Hanseong fell in 475, Baekje chose a new capital at Ungjin, today’s Gongju, within about a month.

Baekje is the kingdom most visitors to Seoul walk over without noticing. Its first royal city stood in what is now the Songpa district, beside the Han River, and the earthen walls of Pungnap and Mongchon are still there between apartment blocks. Over seven centuries Baekje had three capitals, and each move tells you something about the pressure the kingdom was under.

Founders from the north

The National Institute of Korean History describes Baekje as a union of two groups: migrants who came down from Buyeo by way of Goguryeo, and a small Mahan state already living on the lower Han River. Several clues back up the northern link. Early royal tombs around the capital are stepped stone mounds like those of Goguryeo, and in 538 Baekje even renamed itself Nam-Buyeo, meaning Southern Buyeo.

Hanseong: the Han River years

By the fourth century Baekje was a strong power on the west coast. In 371, under King Geunchogo, its army attacked Pyongyang, and the Goguryeo king Gogugwon was killed in the fighting. Baekje also traded and sent envoys across the sea to the Eastern Jin court in southern China, and in 384 it officially welcomed Buddhism. The capital at Hanseong, by the Han River, was the centre of this power for about five centuries.

Then the balance turned. In the ninth month of 475, King Jangsu of Goguryeo surrounded Hanseong with 30,000 troops. The city fell and King Gaero was killed. His brother Munju had gone to Silla for help and was coming back with 10,000 soldiers, but he arrived too late.

Ungjin and Sabi

Munju became king and in the tenth month of 475 moved the court south to Ungjin, today’s Gongju. The site was a natural fortress, with the Charyeong mountains and the Geum River to the north and Gyeryong mountain to the east, and the Geum River gave a route to the Yellow Sea. The Ungjin period lasted from 475 to 538. It began in turmoil, with kings murdered, but King Muryeong steadied the state and kept close ties with the Liang dynasty in China; his tomb, built in a Chinese brick style, is one of the best known in Korea.

In 538 King Seong moved the capital again, this time by plan, to Sabi on a wide plain at today’s Buyeo. In 551 Baekje and Silla attacked Goguryeo together and took back the Han River basin: Baekje held six districts on the lower river and Silla ten on the upper river. Two years later Silla suddenly seized the lower river as well. King Seong struck back in 554 at Gwansanseong, in today’s Okcheon, with help from Gaya and Wa, and was killed in an ambush. That defeat decided the Han River for good.