Wang Kon (877-943) was the founder of the Korean Koryo dynasty and a descendant of a powerful clan at Songdo which controlled maritime trade on the Yesong River. The legends of his ancestors and his rise to power bespeak the clan's intimate association with the sea.

Wang Kon first served as a general under Kungye of Later Koguryo, one of the Later Three Kingdoms. A Silla prince who took to the hills on account of political squabbling at court, Kungye was something of a megalomaniac and Buddhist fanatic, styled himself a Maitreya, and indulged in butchery in his sumptuous palaces. Finally, Wang's colleagues decided to make Wang king, and he ascended the throne at Ch'orwon, the capital of Later Koguryo (918). A year later, Wang transferred the capital to Songdo (modern Kaesong), his clan's stronghold, for personal, strategic, and geomantic reasons.

The destruction of Later Paekche, established by Kyonhwon...