Unified Silla Dynasty

Unified Silla Dynasty (668-935), latter part of the Silla dynasty in Korea, after Silla, in alliance with Tang dynasty China, had defeated the two other states of the Three Kingdoms Period—Paekche and Koguryo—and unified the Korean peninsula south of the Taedong River. Its rule was firmly established after it had thwarted the Tang’s territorial ambitions by defeating the Tang army in 676, forcing it to retreat from the peninsula. Presently peaceful diplomatic relations were established between the two states. The area north of the Taedong River that had previously been Koguryo territory fell under the newly established state of Parhae, a hostile neighbour in defence of which Unified Silla in 721 built a fortified wall along its northern frontier.

The emergence of Unified Silla saw efforts to strengthen royal power at the expense of the bone-rank aristocracy, especially under the reigns of King Muyol (654-661)—the first ruler of “true-bone rank” instead of “hallowed-bone”—and brother-in-law of Kim Yusin, the famous general who played a decisive role in the unification wars, King Sinmun (681-692), and King Songdok (702-737). Already in 651 a Chancellery Office (Chipsabu) had been established as the highest administrative organ of the government responsive to the dictates of the king, replacing the importance of the Hwabaek council that had represented the power of the aristocracy. Centralized administrative and military systems reflected increasing Chinese influence, and Confucianism and Buddhism continued to flourish, the latter maintaining its position as state creed. To rule over the enlarged territory, an expanded system of provincial and local government was created, with nine provinces, secondary capitals in which the aristocracy of the conquered states were resettled together with segments of the Sillan aristocracy, and special administrative units called hyang, so, and pugok, where prisoners of war and inhabitants of rebellious districts lived and worked, reduced to unfree status.

A period of flourishing culture saw developments in arts and crafts expressing an aesthetic sense more refined than the Three Kingdoms period and best represented by the Pulguk-sa temple and the Sokkuram stone cave temple, both said to have been built in 751, in the kingdom’s capital in present-day Kyongju. Gold crowns and other exquisite burial objects have been excavated in large numbers from the many royal tombs in central Kyongju. The literature of Unified Silla is today mainly represented by what remains of hyangga poetry, written with the hyangch’al system that used Chinese characters to record the Korean language, and writings of the renowned Confucian scholar Ch’oe Ch’iwon.

In the mid-8th century the dynasty entered a period of political turbulence as the early efforts to strengthen royal power failed and the aristocracy tried to break the authoritarian stance of the throne. Influential aristocrats plotted against and dethroned kings, and the Hwabaek council once again became important, politics characterized by ephemeral coalitions of aristocratic forces. A more decisive threat to the dynasty, however, was the rise of powerful local gentry. The leaders of these regional centres based their power on military strength as castle lords. Many of them also engaged in the lucrative overseas trade of the period, like Chang Pogo who, based at Wan Island off the south-western tip of the peninsula, mastered the Yellow Sea and controlled a flourishing trade with China and Japan.

The rising power of the local gentry coalesced with rural unrest resulting in large-scale rebellions in the late 9th century in which local strongmen challenged central power by mobilizing large numbers of uprooted peasants. The last phase of Unified Silla is called the Later Three Kingdoms period as Kyonhwon, a poor peasant from the Sangju area, founded Later Paekche in the south-west, and Kungye, a Silla prince probably driven out of the capital in one of the numerous power struggles, established Later Koguryo in the north. The late 9th and early 10th centuries saw continuous rivalry and warfare between the three kingdoms. In 918 Wang Kon seized the throne from Kungye in the north, establishing the Koryo dynasty. In 927 Later Paekche sacked the capital of Silla and killed its king, and greatly weakened the last king of Silla, Kyongsun (Kim Pu), who, in 935, voluntarily surrendered to Wang Kon, bringing an end to the Unified Silla Dynasty. After defeating Later Paekche in 936 Koryo emerged as the new ruler of the unified peninsula.