Prince Hodong and the Princess of Nakrang

The Korean legend of Prince Hodong and the Princess of Nakrang is the story of a Princess who betrays her own country for the love of a Prince of the foe country. While this story is set during the reign of King Muhyul of Goguryeo (AD 18-44), the first extant account is the Samguk Sagi (삼국사기), published 11 centuries later. It records that Nakrang had a drum that sounded by itself in case of foreign invasion. In order to invade Nakrang, King Muhyul ordered his son, Prince Hodong, to use the Princess of Nakrang in order to tear apart the mystical drum, resulting in the fall of Nakrang. Nevertheless, Hodong wasn't made Crown Prince of Goguryeo and the throne passed to a brother of Muhyul (and then to another son).

This tale about nations, war, love, betrayal, and death has been the topic of many dramatizations and philosophical comments.

The Samguk Sagi

The Samguk Sagi, Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) were published in 1145. The purpose of the author Kim Busik was to face a situation where

Of today’s scholars and high-ranking officials, there are those who are well-versed and can discuss in detail the Five Classics 五經 and the other philosophical treatises...as well as the histories of Qin and Han, but as to the events of our country, they are utterly ignorant from beginning to end. This is truly lamentable.^[1]

Around 600 AD, each of the Three Kingdoms had produced their own records: Sogi (Records, circa 370, Baekje), Kuksa (National History, 545, Silla) and Sinjip (600, Goguryeo). But these records were lost during the continual wars between the Kingdoms, and also the many invasions that occurred along the centuries. It is not clear how much of these records were actually at the disposal of Kim Busik when he wrote his Chronicles. Moreover, the Chronicles were compiled in order to illustrate a stricter Confucian doctrine, intended to be the keystone to order family relationships and to govern the state.^[2]

Therefore, it cannot be said if this legend of a Jamyeong Drum 자명고, i.e. of a Self-beating drum, was a part of the former Goguryeo's Sinjip, or some "original research" added by Kim Busik in order to illustrate his own point of view.

Other narratives

This Korean counterpart of the Romeo and Juliette story has been largely used nowadays as a source of inspiration by various artists and essayists. Among them:

• 1956: Film directed by Kim So-dong, Prince Hodong and Princess Nakrang (호동왕자와 낙랑공주). Starring: Kim Dong-won, Jo Mi-ryeong, Kim Seung-ho^[3]
• 1962: Film directed by Han Hyeong-mo, Prince Hodong (왕자호동). Starring: Kim Jin-kyu, Um Aing-ran^[4]
• 1988: Ballet choregraphied by Lim Sung-nam, Prince Hodong^[5]
• 2009: Drama series, written by Jeong Seong-hee, directed by Lee Myung-woo, Ja Myung Go. Starring: Jung Ryeo-won, Jung Kyung-ho, Park Min-young^[6]

Nakrang Kingdom versus Lelang Commandery

The Korean 낙랑 Nakrang can either refer to:

• 낙랑군, 樂浪郡, the Lelang Commandery of Chinese Han Dynasty that existed from BC 108 to AD 313, centered around Wanggeomseong 왕검성 (modern day's Pyeongyang)
• 낙랑국, 樂浪國, a Kingdom of Nakrang, that could have temporary existed in the same area as the result of a rebellion against the Han administration. Or somewhere else due to an annoying homonymy. In any case, founded AD 29 after an eleven years insurrection against Leland and destroyed AD 37 by Goguryeo is mostly how the story was written by Jeong Seong-hee for the SBS series ^[7]

Notes

References