Contents, nature, meaning and implications of a certain argument, suggested right after the Korean liberation from the Japanese oppression, and also in favor of “Goryeo” as the title for the new state on the Korean peninsula, are examined in this article. It essentially shows how the history of Goryeo was generally evaluated by people of the time. This article is also meant to serve as a review of a past effort, which tried to reevaluate a certain part in Korean history from a different perspective on the verge of opening a new chapter for the Korean race. Hopefully such review would be inspiring for us all, living on a peninsula that has been divided for over 70 years, and especially in the current climate which for quite some time exclusively fathomed only ‘Daehan’ or ‘Joseon’ as valid state titles. The attempts made in this article could also allow us to approach the issue of “state title selections” from two different angles, not only seeing them as part of a political agenda, but also viewing them as a new way in historical recognition.
The demand for a state title “Goryeo” had already been in the minds of the Korean people during the Japanese occupation period. Then it surfaced for the first time right after the liberation, and was more actively presented in 1947 by the Moderates in their response to the Joint U.S-U.S.S.R Committee. In 1948, the Korean Democratic Party also joined the cause during the Korean Constitution’s designing process. The argument itself was promoted based upon certain notions that 1) Goryeo was a dynasty which inherited the legacy of Goguryeo, that 2) Goryeo rose to prominence through fighting foreign factions with its own force, and that 3) Goryeo was a state which earned recognition of the outer world under the name “Korea.” This recognition of Goryeo history was inspired not only by Nationalistic historical scholars but Neo-Nationalistic Korean scholars as well. Yet at the same time it still lacked the perspective to view Goryeo as a unified state, or as a country that prospered on cultural developments as well as diplomacy with their neighbors.
This campaign for ‘Goryeo’ as the new state title was in fact an attempt to put a dent in a previous notion of the Daehan Min’guk Provisional government being the sole legitimate representative body of the Korean people. In other words, it was an effort to create a new identity for the Korean race. Yet rather than pursuing peaceful stability for the Korean people with the newly named state, the campaign was more interested in show-casing the history of Goryeo as a period which supposedly pursued developments through strength and force. Of course, even such an effort served -in its own way- the objective of peaceful unification on the Korean peninsula. To a certain extent it widened the people’s eyes, and helped them better appreciate both national and global merits this dynasty in the past did feature.