Dongcheon

King Dongcheon (209–248, r. 227–248 ) was the 11th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

Family Father: King Sansang Grandfather: King Sindae Mother: Little Consort Consorts and their respective issue(s): Unknown queen Prince Yeonbul Prince Yemul (예물, 預物; d. 248) Prince Sagu (사구, 奢句; d. 248) Unknown concubine; the people of the East Sea offer a beautiful woman to the king

Background He was the grandson of Goguryeo's eighth ruler, Sindae and the son of the tenth ruler, Sansang.

Reign In 238, Dongcheon was able to ally with the Wei, one of the three Chinese kingdoms in the northwestern area, in order to destroy the Gongsun family and erase its influence over Liaodong Peninsula and other areas bordering Goguryeo. The war on the Gongsun was a victory, but Goguryeo's ally, Wei, eventually became a new threat. Dongcheon was forced to flee the capital. The exact location of the new capital is still disputed. King Dongcheon received news of Yu Yu's death and ordered that a memorial be made for Yu Yu the Patriot. Then, he led his armies in the attack to push the Wei forces out of Goguryeo territory. General Mil U and Yu Okgu also repulsed the Wei forces. The Goguryeo forces won this battle, and regained all of the territory that had been lost from defeats against the Wei. This passage was not paralleled in Chinese records, and Hiroshi Ikeuchi points out its errors: the author of this passage in Samguk sagi regarded the region of South Okjeo and Lelang as identical, while in fact they are on opposite sides of the peninsula; also, the references to the "Eastern Department" for Yu Yu and Mil U are anachronistic, since Goguryeo did not divide the country into departments until the middle of the Goguryeo dynasty — that is, after Dongcheon's reign. As such, Ikeuchi considered the Samguk sagi'''s stories to be fictional. KHJ Gardiner notes that the Samguk Sagi "seeks to reverse the reality of a defeat" in several instances, including an earlier conflict in 208 against forces led by Gongsun Kang in support of a claimant to the Goguryeo throne. According to the Samguk Sagi, the claimant supported by Kang was defeated by Gyesu, a younger brother of Sansang of Goguryeo. However Gardiner doubts both the existence of Gyesu as well as his victory.

According to Mark E. Byington, the extent of destruction caused to Goguryeo was such that Chinese historical texts did not mention it for the next 50 years. Gina L. Barnes states that the Chinese account of routing Goguryeo was the last piece of direct information from China on Goguryeo's development until the 6th century.

In 243, he named his son Yeonbul the crown prince and successor to the throne. He attacked Silla, another of the Three Kingdoms to its south, in 245 but made peace in 248. The records are found in Samguk sagi under the annal of Isageum (Silla's ruler) that Dongcheon invaded the northern area of Silla, but the validity of a peace agreement has not been fully explained, since given that Goguryeo was under harsh attacks from the northern area, an invasion of Goguryeo into Silla would be logically incomprehensible. It is well accepted that this invasion indicated a sudden inflow of refugees from Goguryeo into a bordering area with Silla.

Death and succession Dongcheon fell ill and died during the fall of 248 after 22 years of rule. His tomb is said to be in South Pyongan Province near Pyongyang, North Korea. He is said to have been so loved that many people followed him in death. Crown Prince Yeon-Bul succeeded his father as King Jungcheon immediately after his father's death.