Why you can’t abandon your country

SHIN BOK-RYONG
The author is an emeritus professor of history at Konkuk University.

In the 9th year (699 AD) of King Munmu of Unified Silla, an envoy of the Tang Dynasty came. As it was just 23 years after the Silla Dynasty borrowed the Tang’s power to conquer Goguryeo and Baekje, the Tang envoy was arrogant. Before leaving Silla, he became greedy after seeing a bow among the tributary gifts.

Because the bow could shoot an arrow as far as 1,000 steps, the Tang emissary demanded the Silla court send the craftsman, who made the bow, to China as a gift. The craftsman was Gu Jin-cheon, a government official. But King Munmu could not reject the request of the envoy.

When Gu arrived in China, he pleased Emperor Taizong of Tang. The emperor soon gave him materials to make the bow. But the bow he made could only shoot an arrow as far as 30 steps. When Taizong asked why, he responded that it was due to the poor material. The emperor sent people to Silla to get material for the bow. However, even with the material brought from Silla, the bow could only go 60 steps.

When the emperor asked why, Gu replied that this time the problem was the humidity in the process of shipping the material by boat. The clever emperor realized that Gu was hiding a secret. The emperor threatened to kill him, but Gu did not share the secret method and died. He was concerned that his people could be killed by arrows from the bow.

This episode shows how important a national secret and patriotism are. Even a low-level technology official had such loyalty for his country. But today, Korean experts often leave their country after inventing cutting-edge technology and gaining fame.

It is forgivable to leave Korea if they cannot develop their talents here. But if their actions directly harm the country, I cannot help but condemn them. Even if the country abandoned its people, they cannot abandon their motherland, just as we cannot abandon our mothers.