Jang Bogo

Jang Bo-go (787–841), whose childhood name was Gungbok or Gungpa (Korean: 궁파), was a Sillan who rose to prominence in the Later Silla period of Korea as a powerful maritime figure who effectively controlled the Yellow Sea (West Sea),[1] and dominated the trade between Silla, Heian Japan, and Tang China for decades.

Gungbok, a native of Cheonmin, learned that he could not become a general in Silla, so he moved to Tang Dynasty and joined the army and changed his name to Jang Bogo.

[3] The three sources for his life[4] are the Chinese New Book of Tang (Xīn Tángshū), the Japanese Shoku Nihon Kōki (続日本後紀), and the Korean 12th-century Samguk Sagi ("A History of the Three Kingdoms"), which contains a brief biography of Jang compiled three centuries after his death.

Apparently, while in China Jang Bogo had become incensed at the treatment of his fellow countrymen, who in the unstable milieu of late Tang often fell victim to coastal pirates or inland bandits.

In 823 the Tang emperor went so far as to issue an edict stopping the slave trade and ordering the return of all abducted Koreans to Silla.

Heungdeok agreed and in 828 formally established the Cheonghae (淸海, "clear sea") Garrison at what is today Wando island off Korea's South Jeolla province.

The Samguk Sagi further relates that Heungdeok gave Jang an army of 10,000 men to establish and man the defensive works.

He was often hated by the Silla royal family members due to his prominent status and the fact that he was born a commoner, not a nobleman.

"[6] Thereupon Jang dispatched a force of 5000 men under the command of his closest companion and adviser Jeong Yeon (who had since also returned from Tang) in support of Sinmu's claim.

However, the Japanese history book, Shoku Nihon Kōki (續日本後紀, 869) (Later Chronicle of Japan, Continued), gives Jang's date of death as 841.