Mongol Invasions of Goryeo

The Mongols invaded Goryeo repeatedly for nearly thirty years. Goryeo held out by moving its capital to Ganghwa Island.

Using the death of the envoy Zhuguyu in 1225 as a pretext, a Mongol army under Sartai invaded in 1231 (the first invasion). Park Seo held Gwiju, but when the Mongols surrounded Gaegyeong Goryeo made peace, and the Mongols left darughachi behind and withdrew. The next year Choe U moved the capital to Ganghwa Island to fight a long war.

The Mongols invaded again over the move (the second invasion, 1232), and at Cheoinseong the monk Kim Yun-hu and the people of Cheoin-bugok shot Sartai dead. Invasions continued until 1259 and are usually counted as six. The court held out on Ganghwa and carved the Tripitaka Koreana, while people on the mainland took refuge in mountain fortresses and on islands to fight (as at Chungju in 1253). The country was devastated: the first Tripitaka burned in the second invasion and the nine-story wooden pagoda of Hwangnyongsa in the third, and in 1254 alone more than 200,000 people were carried off.

After the Choe regime fell in 1258, the crown prince (later King Wonjong) met Kublai the next year and made peace. The return to Gaegyeong in 1270 began the period of Yuan interference, and the Sambyeolcho, who opposed the return, fought on.