Yu Deuk-gong’s Balhaego

In Balhaego, Yu Deuk-gong placed Balhae in Korean history and first called the age of Silla and Balhae the “Northern and Southern States”.

In his preface Yu lamented that Goryeo had never written Balhae’s history and so lost its claim to Goguryeo’s old lands — extending the scope of Korean history to Manchuria.

Late Joseon saw a flowering of “national studies” of Korean history, geography and language. An Jeong-bok’s Dongsa gangmok traced a legitimate line from Gojoseon to Goryeo; Yi Geung-ik’s Yeollyeosil gisul told Joseon history topic by topic; Han Chi-yun’s Haedong yeoksa drew on over 500 foreign sources. Yi Jung-hwan’s Taengniji and Jeong Sang-gi’s scaled Dongguk jido also appeared. Kim Jeong-hui’s epigraphy identified the Bukhansan stele as King Jinheung’s (1816), recorded in his Geumseok gwaan-nok.