Yeon Namgeon (淵男建, 연남건) (635 ~ ?연개소문의 맏아들인 연남생이 634년에 탄생했고 막내아들인 연남산이 639년 출생했으므로 적어도 1년 이상 차이가 난다.) was the second son of the

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

military leader and dictator

Yeon Gaesomun Yeon GaesomunSome Chinese and Korean sources stated that his surname was Yeongae () and personal name was Somun (), but the majority of sources suggest a one-syllable surname and a three-syllable personal name. (; 594–666) was a powerful mili ...

(Unknown-665), and third Dae Magniji of Goguryeo during the reign of Goguryeo's last ruler, King Bojang.

Fall of Goguryeo

Following the death of his father in 666, Namgeon became embroiled in a power struggle with his elder brother

Yeon Namsaeng Yeon Namsaeng (; 634–679) was the eldest son of the Goguryeo ' (대막리지, 大莫離支; highest-ranking official or dictator; "prime minister") Yeon Gaesomun (603? – 665). In 665, Yeon Namsaeng succeeded his father and became the 2nd Dae ...

. Namgeon and his younger brother Namsan staged a coup against their older brother when he was inspecting all of the fortresses of Goguryeo to prepare for war against the Tang. Namgeon and Namsan's coup forced Namsaeng to surrender to the Tang, and ultimately led to the destruction of

. Namgeon appointed himself ''Dae Mangniji'' (대막리지, 大莫離支) and seized control of the government. During Tang's subsequent invasion of 668, Namgeon led armed resistance to the Chinese forces near the Amnok River and continued to resist the Tang forces all the way to

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. With Goguryeo's defeat, Namgeon found himself a prisoner of war and was transported to China and later banished to Qianzhou (黔州), in what is today China's

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

province, where he apparently died. The tomb

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

s of Namgeon's siblings Namsaeng and Namsan are extant but offer no particulars regarding the life of Namgeon. Had Namgeon and his brothers united to work together, Goguryeo would have lasted for a much longer period of time, but Silla sent their spies into the brothers' inner circle of advisors to try and create a rift between the brothers.

Popular culture

* Portrayed by Ahn Hong-jin in the 2006-2007 KBS TV series '' Dae Jo-yeong''. * Portrayed by Kim Hong-pyo in 2006-2007 SBS TV series ''

''.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeon, Nam-geon 7th-century government officials 7th-century Korean people

Fall of Goguryeo

Popular culture

See also

Notes