Ko Kyŏng-myŏng (; 1533 – 1592) was a

Joseon dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...

scholar and

Yangban The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil servants and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats ...

, who became a

Righteous Army Righteous armies, sometimes called irregular armies or militias, are informal civilian militias that have appeared several times in Korean history, when the national armies were in need of assistance. The first righteous armies emerged during th ...

leader in the

Imjin War The Imjin River ( in South Korea) or Rimjin River ( in North Korea) is the 7th largest river in Korea. It flows from north to south, crossing the Demilitarized Zone and joining the Han River downstream of Seoul, near the Yellow Sea. The rive ...

. He was killed while attacking

Geumsan Geumsan County (''Geumsan-gun''; Korean: 금산군) is a county in South Chungcheong Province (Before 1963, Geumsan was in Jeollabuk-do), South Korea. History Administrative district name, Geumsan-gun, have nowadays was originate from the union of ...

in 1592.Turnbull, Stephen: ''Samurai Invasion. Japan's Korean War 1592–98'' (London, 2002), Cassell & Co

Background

Ko was a Yangban, from the town of Changhung in

Cholla province Jeolla Province (, ) was one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Kingdom of Joseon in today Southwestern Korea. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla, South Jeolla and Gwangju Metropolitan City as ...

. He had failed the civil service examinations, and was therefore denied a post in the bureaucracy. In 1592, the armies of Japanese regent

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

invaded Korea. They advanced north from Busan and occupied Seoul, forcing King

Seonjo Seonjo of Joseon (26 November 1552 – 16 March 1608) was the fourteenth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea from 1567 to 1608. He was known for encouraging Confucianism and renovating state affairs at the beginning of his reign. However, politi ...

to flee. Ko, then sixty years old, began recruiting civilians into a

militia. He planned to join forces with another Righteous army led by

Cho Hon Jo Heon (, 1544 – 1592) was a Joseon official and militia leader in Korea at the time of the Imjin war. He believed that Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi posed a threat to Korean security, but his warnings were not heeded. When war broke out in ...

, and recapture Seoul from the Japanese. While on the way to Seoul, he heard that the Japanese were planning to attack Chonju, capital of Cholla, his home province, from the captured city of Geumsan.

Attack on Geumsan and death

Ko decided to attack the Japanese at Geumsan to prevent them from invading Cholla. He joined forces with Korean regulars led by General Kwak Yong, and marched to Geumsan. The Japanese forces inside the city were led by the Daimyo

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Ko ...

. While the government forces were driven back, Ko's militia managed to penetrate the outer walls and light buildings on fire. However, the Japanese halted their advance, and they withdrew. On the second day of fighting, the Japanese forces counterattacked. The government forces and most of the militia fled, but Ko refused to retreat. He was killed along with two of his sons and a small group of fighters in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese soldiers.

Aftermath

The Japanese army, after repelling the attack on Geumsan, moved to take Jeonju. The ensuing

Battle of Jeonju The Battle of Jeonju was one of the first battles fought in Korea during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). Even though this was a rather minor battle compared to others during the Korean Campaign, it would be one of the very most i ...

ended with a Korean victory. One of Ko's surviving sons, Ko Chŏng-hu, became a Righteous army leader. He went on to fight alongside

Kim Chon-il Kim Chŏn-il (; 1537 – July 27, 1593) was a Korean military leader in the 16th century. He was a Joseon dynasty official and became a ''righteous army'' leader during the Imjin war to repel the 1592 Japanese invasion of Korea. He was killed in th ...

in the second siege of Jinju.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Go, Gyeong-myeong People of the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) 16th-century Korean poets