Kim Chun-chu
| Muyeol of Silla | |
| Hangul | 태종 무열왕 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 太宗 武烈王 |
| Revised Romanization | Taejong Muyeol |
| McCune–Reischauer | T'aejong Muyǒl |
| Birth name | |
| Hangul | 김춘추 |
| Hanja | 金春秋 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Chun-chu |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Ch'un-ch'u |
King Taejong Muyeol(604- 661), born Kim Chun-Chu, was the 29th ruler of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is credited for leading the unification of Korea's Three Kingdom.
King Taejong Muyeol was born with the "sacred bone" rank of seonggol. His father, Kim Yongsu (金龍樹), was a son of Silla's 25th ruler, King Jinji. When King Jinji was overthrown, all royalty from his line, including Kim Yongsu, were deemed unfit to rule over the kingdom. However, as he Yongsu was one of the few remaining seonggols, and married a seonggol princess (King Jinpyeong's daughter Princess Cheonmyeong), their child, Kim Chunchu, became seonggol and thus had a claim to the throne. Kim Yongsu was a powerful figure in the government. However, he lost all of his power to Kim Baekban, the brother of the king. In order to survive, he had accepted to become a jingol, the rank that was right below seonggol. Therefore, he lost his chance of becoming the king, and so did his child, Kim Chunchu. Following the death of his aunt, Queen Seondeok, Chunchu was passed over in favor of Jindeok of Silla, the last verifiable seonggol. With her death, all the seonggols were dead, so somebody with the royal blood in the jinggol rank had to succeed the throne. Kim Alcheon (a.k.a. So Alcheon), who was then Sangdaedeung (highest post of government) of Silla was the original favorite to succeed the throne. His father was a seonggol, who married a jingol wife so that his son would not be a seonggol and suffer from the fight for the throne. However, Kim Yushin supported Kim Chunchu, and Alcheon eventually refused the throne and supported Chunchu's claim. As a result, Kim Chunchu succeeded the throne as King Muyeol.
Kim Yushin had two sisters called Bohui and Munhui. Bohui was a shy girl with a delicate appearance, while Munhui was a tall and outgoing girl. Kim Yushin wanted one of his sisters to be married to Kim Chunchu. One day, Chunchu went to Yushin's house for a game of Chookgook(金文姬, a traditional soccer). During the game, Yushin deliberately tore off one of the tassels on Chunchu's robe. Yushin then offered to have Chunchu's tassels to be sewn by his sister. She asked Bohui to sew it but she was too nervous and said that ' she cannot do something so small for someone so precious '. Munhui stepped out and offered to sew it instead. When they met, Chunchu and Munhui fell in love with each other. Kim Chunchu started to visit Kim Yushin's house more often, but Kim Yushin pretended not to be aware of their relationship. Eventually, MunHui became pregnant. However, in fear of causing troubles, Kim Chunchu decided to keep it a secret. Kim Yushin who found out about this news scolded his sister, and spread a rumor about his sister getting pregnant without a husband and that he will burn her alive because of it - although he only did that, in order to pressure Kim Chunchu into marrying his sister.
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