Paekche or Baekje 百濟
Mireuksa Temple, Paekche
As a result of King Changsu's expedition to the south in 475 A.D., Paekche at last lost its capital Hansong, and moved the capital to Ungjin (now Kongju). Paekche had to move its capital again 60 years later from Ungjin to Soburi (now Puyo), which became the country's last capital. In this regard, the history of Paekche can be divided into three as follows:Hansong Era (Kwangju) (*350-475) Ungjin Era (Kongju) (475-538) Soburi Era (Puyo) (538-660)
* Mark indicates estimated year.
Paekcke incense burner, from Nonsanri Tombs
Paekche's retreat to the south naturally influenced Japanese power in the peninsula. Every time Paekche moved to the south, Japan ceded part of Kara to encourage Paekche to recover its power. Consequently, Japan lost most of the western half of Kara.
:It must be noted, however, that Paekche's retreat the south was not caused merely .by Koguryo's invasion. Koguryo's invasion did constitute one of the major pressures outside to force Paekche to move its capital to the . But it is also true that Paekche itself had planned to move its capital to improve the country's administration and cultural l system in an effort to recover its national prestige, this was particularly true of the capital's removal to Soburi..
The most remarkable of Paekche's politico-military organizat:ion were the five pu's of the capital and the five pang's of local territories. The former-consisting of the Upper, Middle Lower ,Front and Rear pu's-together designated five quarters of the capital, at the same time probably meaning five sections of the ruling class; the latter-Middle, Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern pang's-were primarily military districts with some administrative functions..
Unlike Paekche, Shilla maintained its metropolis in Kyongju from the beginning and achieved a gradual development the conutry. Since the country was located very close to Kara, the conflicts with Kara always posed major diplomatic problems.
While Paekche expanded its territory into Kara, which was under Japan's control, in the form of agreed cession from Japan, Shilla gradually invaded and amalgamated Kara. territory. Its invasion to Kara reached its peak during tht, age of King Pophiing, and was completed in the age of his successor, King Chinhiing in 562 A.D. King Chinhiing's "Monument of Territory Exploration," built in 561 A.D. in Changnyong, Kyongsang-namdo, commemorates Shilla's expansion into Kara.
Thus, the fall of Kara in 562 A.D. as the result of the invasion by Paekche in the west and by Shilla in the east, meant the virtual end of Japan's control on the southern part of the peninsula, and the beginning of the new era of a tripartite struggle between Koguryo, Paekche and Shilla.
It was about 170 years after Japan had battled with the army of the King Kwanggaet'o that Kara perished. During that 170 odd years, Paekche approached Japan to maintain its power in the peninsula, while Shilla strengthened its ties with Koguryo to achieve its national development, though there were some minor changes in their diplomatic policies at times.
At the same time, Paekche exchanged friendly relations with China's Southern Dynasties, while Shilla and Koguryo sought the support of the Northern Dynasties. In this respect, it can be said that the tripartite division of the peninsula at that time had some connection also with the struggle between the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China.
Paekche or Baekje and Shilla
Let us now examine the situation in the south while Koguryo was kept busy dealing with the threat from the north.
As mentioned earlier, this was a blank period of history and not much can be said definitely about the south. However, it is assumed that Ma-han and Ch'en-han which had established contacts with China toward the end of the period of Lo-Iang, were finally released from Chinese control through the destruction of Lo-Iang and Tai-fang and finally developed into the two new states of Paekche and Silla. These two states appear in Chinese history almost simultaneously around 372 A.D. Although the legends of these two states relate that their beginning was in the late first century B.C., circumstances show that they were formed in the midfourth century A.D. when Paekche was under the reign of King Kunch'ogo and Silla was ruled by King Naemul.
Among the factors which worked on the emergence and development of these two kingdoms, one of the most significant was their relations to Japan. Activities of the Japanese people had ceased to be recorded by Chinese historians since 266 A.D. It was not until 413 A.D. that the Japanese resumed sending envoys to the Chinese Court, and after that date the situation in Japan became more or less known to outsiders. It is improbable that the Japanese had completely withdrawn from the Korean Peninsula during these one and half a centuries, in view of the fact that, at the time when Paekche and Shillaa were growing out of Ma-han and Ch'en-han respectively, Pien-ch'en remained disunited as Kara States or in Japanese Mimana, being under the direct control of Japan while Paekche and Silla were relatively independent, only tied by a pledge of allegiance to Japan.
This seems to indicate that, although in the third century the Japanese influence in the Korean Peninsula had dwindled temporarily in the face of the rising Han kingdoms, the Japanese tried successfully to reestablish themselves in the Pien-ch'en area by sending a large army across the sea soon after the downfall of the two Chinese provinces in the peninsula, thus creating the Mimo,no, territory to counter the strong movement of the Han kingdoms toward a unity and to prevent the realization of a unified South Korea, and resulting in a competition between Sma in the east and Paekche in west. It is true that the tripartite division of the peninsula by Shillaa, Paekche and the Kara group was to some extent an achievement by the Han kingdoms who had been striving toward a unified Korea.
Yet the situation cannot be regarded as a completely smooth and unhindered development, for a similar division of the peninsula had already existed in the third century, and this seems to be too slow a progress to be achieved in the course of more than one and a half centuries. Such Japanese expansion into Korea in protohistoric times has probably formed a factual core of the legend of the famed expedition to Korea by the Empress Jingii related in old Japanese chronicles in a vague, mythical way.
Moreover, there is no doubt about a deep Japanese influence on the growth of Shilla and Paekche. A good corroboration to this view is found in the fact that, when Koguryo turned from the Liao-tung area to start a southward advance in the Korean Peninsula, she ran into stiff opposition from the Japanese sphere of influence which covered both Shilla and Paekche, and that a period of Koguryo-Japanese rivalry over the hegemony in the peninsula had to ensue for quite some time. Usually the Three Kingdoms Period is regarded as having begun in the mid-fourth century when Shilla and Paekche emerged, but in actuality it began only after the competition between Koguryo and Japan had subsided.