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Ugeo of Gojoseon
Hangul	우거왕
Hanja	右渠王
Revised Romanization	Ugeowang
McCune–Reischauer	Ugŏwang

King Ugeo (?-108 BC) is the last king of Wiman Joseon, the last remnant of Gojoseon. He was a grandson of Wiman.

The Chinese viewpoint on this struggle is described in Records of the Grand Historian (史記), according to which the kingdom of Gojoseon had blocked trade between the Han Dynasty and the other kingdoms to the east and did not pay any homage to Han Dynasty.

The Korean viewpoint on this struggle is that Gojoseon did not have any duty of homage to Han because Gojoseon was a sovereign nation and in a political alliance including Xiongnu against the Han Dynasty.

A more realistic assessment of the situation seems to be that Han was looking for a chance to exercise its might as a unified Chinese dynasty. Emperor Wu (Wudi; 武帝) of Han appointed She He (涉何) as an ambassador to Gojoseon in 109 B.C. After a failed negotiations, She He killed a general Jang (長) at the border on his way back to Han.

She He was rewarded by Emperor Wu for this treacherous act and appointed the governor of Liaodong, Eastern District (遼東郡 東部都尉; meaning "Far East Commandery, Eastern District") located at the border with Gojoseon.^[1] Enraged by this act of Wudi, King Ugeo attacked the territory of She He and killed him. Seeing a chance to declare war against Gojoseon, the Han Dynasty thus sent 50,000 strong army and 7,000 strong navy to conquer the Gojoseon.

Ugeo was killed by an assassin sent by a faction advocating surrender. Even after the death of Ugeo, Gojoseon resisted the Han forces until 108 BC but lost and the Four Commanderies of Han were then set up.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Gojoseon
• Wiman Joseon
• Gojoseon-Han War

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