Ki-jun’s seventh descendant was Hun, with the title of Wŭn-wang. His reign began in 57 B.C. during the reign of the Han Emperor Hsuan-ti and in the second year the great kingdom of Sil-la was founded in Chin-han. In his twenty-second year the great northern kingdom of Ko-gu-ryŭ was founded, 35 B.C., and nineteen years later the kingdom of Ma-han fell before the forces of Păk-je.

The founding of Sil-la, Ko-gu-ryu, and Pak-je.... Sil-la.... legend.... growth.... Tsushima a vassal.... credibility of accounts.... Japanese relations.... early vicissitudes.... Ko-gu-ryu.... four Pu-yus.... legend.... location of Pu-yu.... Chu-mong founds Ko-gu-ryu.... growth and extent.... products.... customs.... religious rites.... official grades.... punishments.... growth eastward.... Pak-je.... relations between Sil-la and Pak-je.... tradition of founding of Pak-je.... opposition of wide tribes.... the capital moved.... situation of the peninsula at the time of Christ.

The History of Korea (vol. 1 of 2) — Part 32

In the year 57 B.C. the chiefs of the six great Chin-han states, Yŭn-jun-yang-san, Tol-san-go-hö, Cha-sa-jin-ji, Mu-san-dă-su, Keum san-ga-ri and Myŭng-whal-san-go-ya held a great council at Yun-chŭn-yang and agreed to merge their separate fiefs into a kingdom. They named the capital of the new kingdom Sŭ-ya-bŭl, from which the present word Seoul is probably derived, and it was situated where Kyöng-ju now stands in Kyüng-sang Province. At first the name applied both to the capital and to the kingdom.

The History of Korea (vol. 1 of 2) — Part 32

They placed upon the throne a boy of thirteen years, named Hyŭk-kŭ-se, with the royal title Kŭ-sŭ-gan. It is said that his family name was Pak, but this was probably an afterthought derived from a Chinese source. At any rate he is generally known as Pak Hyŭk-kŭ-se. The story of his advent is typically Korean. A company of revellers beheld upon a mountain side a ball of light on which a horse was seated. They approached it and as they did so the horse rose straight in air and disappeared, leaving a great, luminous egg. This soon opened of itself and disclosed a handsome boy. This wonder was accompanied by vivid light and the noise of thunder. Not long after this another wonder was seen. Beside the Yŭn-yüng Spring a hen raised her wing and from her side came forth a female child with a mouth like a bird’s bill, but when they washed her in the spring the bill fell off and left her like other children. For this reason the well was named the Pal-ch’ŭn which refers to the falling of the bill. Another tradition says that she was formed from the rib of a dragon which inhabited the spring. In the fifth year of his reign the youthful king espoused this girl and they typify to all Koreans the perfect marriage.

The History of Korea (vol. 1 of 2) — Part 32