Visual History of Korea

Koryo Seonbi Poun Jong Mongju Revered on Both Sides

By Hyungwon Kang

Poun (포은) Jong Mongju (정몽주, 1337–1392) exemplified the spirit of jijo (지조, 志操) and kigae (기개, 氣槪), the unyielding fidelity and fortitude to uphold one’s principles and convictions. These qualities represent an essential core of the seonbi spirit.

More than six centuries after his death, Poun remains a beloved and revered historical figure in both Koreas. Despite the political division of the peninsula, Koreans on both sides honor him as an enduring symbol of loyalty, integrity and principled conviction.

A native of Gyeongsang Province, Poun was one of the last great seonbi of the Koryo Empire before Yi Seonggye overthrew Koryo and established the Joseon Kingdom in 1392.

When Yi Bangwon, who later became King Taejong and was the father of King Sejong the Great, urged Jong Mongju to abandon Koryo and support the emerging Joseon regime, Poun replied with an impromptu sijo declaring his unshakable fidelity:

“Though this body die and die again, a hundred deaths,
Though white bones turn to dust and dirt,
Whether a soul remains or not—
How could loyalty to my king ever change?” Dansimga (단심가 Song of Enduring Fidelity)

Such spontaneous exchanges of sijo were a classical medium through which seonbi expressed moral conviction. Poun’s final verse became an archetype of unwavering loyalty in Korean culture.

Shortly thereafter, Poun was assassinated on Yi Bangwon’s orders at Sonjukgyo Bridge in Kaesong on May 4, 1392, shortly before the fall of Koryo.

Yet one of the great historical ironies of Poun’s legacy is that the very man who ordered his killing later helped restore his honor.

Immediately after the founding of Joseon, Jong Mongju was regarded as an opponent of the new dynasty. But after Yi Bangwon became King Taejong, he rehabilitated Poun, posthumously elevated his status and bestowed honors upon him.

The political logic was profound. A new dynasty founded through the overthrow of the old one needed to teach its own officials that loyalty to one’s sovereign was an absolute virtue. By honoring the man who had refused to betray Koryo, Joseon transformed a former political enemy into an enduring model of fidelity.

Poun was also an important early scholar of Neo-Confucianism in Korea. As Joseon increasingly defined itself through a Neo-Confucian political and moral order, his scholarship, integrity and refusal to abandon his king made him an ideal spiritual ancestor for the seonbi class. Later scholar-officials and the Sarim revered him as both a scholarly predecessor and a symbol of uncompromising loyalty.

In Kaesong, Sungyang Sowon was established in 1573 on the site of Jong Mongju’s former residence. UNESCO describes it as a Confucian private school at the former home of Jong Mongju, whose assassination marked the overthrow of Koryo. Sungyang Sowon is one of the components of the Historic Monuments and Sites in Kaesong, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2013.

At the entrance to Sungyang Sowon in Kaesong stand two stepped stone structures of equal height facing each other, known as masangdae (마상대, 馬上臺) and mahadae (마하대, 馬下臺). They served as mounting and dismounting platforms for horse riders: the masangdae provided a foothold for getting onto a horse, while the mahadae was used when dismounting.

The three exposed sides of the stone steps are decorated with finely carved animals. Carved into the mahadae are images resembling native Korean dogs. One has floppy ears, while another has a short muzzle, offering an intriguing visual record of the variety of dogs familiar to Koreans in earlier times.

According to Professor Ha Jihong, one of Korea’s best-known experts on native dogs, large numbers of Korean dogs were slaughtered between 1937 and 1945, during the Japanese colonial period, for their hides, which were used to make winter clothing for Japanese troops fighting in the bitter cold of Manchuria. The mass killing contributed to the disappearance or severe depletion of many indigenous Korean dog populations, leaving only a small number of native breeds surviving today.

Modern whole-genome research likewise shows that Korea’s surviving native dogs preserve substantial and ancient genetic diversity. A 2023 study published in iScience, analyzing 205 canid genomes, places the divergence of Korean dog populations thousands of years into the past.

Across the centuries, seonbi have revered Jong Mongju as one of the “Eighteen Sages of the East.” More than six centuries after his death, Poun remains beloved and revered in both North and South Korea. In the South, his scholarship, Dansimga and unwavering loyalty remain part of the cultural memory of the seonbi tradition. In the North, his legacy is preserved at Sungyang Sowon and Sonjukgyo Bridge in Kaesong, where he is remembered as one of Koryo’s great historical figures.

That makes Poun Jong Mongju a remarkable figure in Korean history: a Koryo loyalist killed for refusing to betray his dynasty, rehabilitated by the very Joseon king who had ordered his death, and ultimately embraced across the Korean Peninsula as an enduring symbol of fidelity.

More than 600 years after his assassination, political systems have changed and the peninsula has been divided, but Poun’s jijo and kigae still belong to Koreans on both sides—holding firmly to principle even when the price is one’s life.

-30-

For reference:
UNESCO spelling: Jong Mongju = 정몽주
UNESCO spelling: Sungyang Sowon = 숭양서원
Poun = 포은
Jijo = 지조 志操
Kigae = 기개 氣槪
단심가 =“Dansimga” (Song of Enduring Fidelity)