history

In the period of the Koguryo Kingdom (277 BC-AD 668) which had great national strength in Korean history, there were many distinguished patriotic generals. Among them was Ulji Mun Dok (early 7th century).

He practised martial arts like horse riding and archery and studied books on military science from his childhood and later served as a military officer and then held a minister-level government post.

When three million troops of foreign enemy invaded Koguryo in 612, he became the supreme commander of the Koguryo troops. One day, he went into the enemy’s camp alone on the pretext of negotiations and found that the enemy troops were starving and became very tired and demoralized and that their generals differed in opinion.

He decided to destroy the enemy by exploiting their weak points and adopted the tactics of allurement and of emptying areas and firmly holding fortresses, thus repulsing enemy troops.

Like this, Ulji Mun Dok played a big role in Koguryo’s winning victory in the war in 612. His patriotic feats served the Koreans as a great source of encouragement in their later fights against foreign invasions.