Yeon Gaesomun

Yeon Gaesomun
Portrait of Yeon Gaesomun
Korean name
Hangul	연개소문
Hanja	淵蓋蘇文
Revised Romanization	Yeon Gaesomun
McCune–Reischauer	Yŏn Kaesomun

Yeon Gaesomun (603–666) was a powerful military dictator in the waning days of Goguryeo, which was one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea. He is remembered for his numerous successful resistances in military conflicts with Tang China under Emperor Taizong and his son Emperor Gaozong. Emperor Taizong's failure to Yeon Gaesomun was the only defeat that he suffered on the battlefield.

Traditional Korean histories painted Yeon Gaesomun as a despotic leader, whose cruel policies and disobedience to his monarch led to the fall of Goguryeo. However, his achievements in defending Goguryeo against Chinese onslaughts have inspired Korean nationalist historians, most notably the 19th century Korean historian and intellectual Shin Chaeho, to term Yeon Gaesomun the greatest hero in Korean history. Many Korean scholars today echo Shin Chaeho and praise Yeon Gaesomun as a soldier-statesman without equal in Korean history.

Yeon Gaesomun was born into the influential and distinguished Yeon family as the first and oldest son of Yeon Taejo, the prime minister (막리지, 莫離支) of Goguryeo during the reigns of King Pyeongwon and King Yeongyang. His grandfather Yeon Ja-yu was also a prime minister.

Information about Yeon Gaesomun comes largely from the Samguk Sagi's biographical accounts of King Yeongnyu,King Bojang, and Yeon Gaesomun himself, and tomb engravings and biographical accounts, from the New Book of Tang, dedicated to his sons Yeon Namsaeng and Yeon Namsan.