Buyeo Pung

Buyeo Pung was a Baekje prince living in Japan when Tang China and Silla defeated his kingdom in southwestern Korea in 660. Baekje resistance leaders requested aid from the Yamato court and Pung's return. In 661, he returned with Japanese military support to join the restoration movement. His royal status supplied a claimant around whom the effort to recover Baekje could organize. [S01, S02]

That alliance did not resolve conflict within the restoration leadership. Pung had the commander Boksin put to death in 663 amid allegations that Boksin was plotting against him. The Nihon shoki, the Japanese court chronicle compiled in 720, records the killing and the continuing military emergency. Pung's attempt to retain authority over his own movement took place while Tang and Silla were pressing the remaining Baekje positions. [S01, S02]

In 663, the allied fleet was defeated by Tang forces at Baekgang, and the restoration failed. Pung fled toward Goguryeo, the northern Korean kingdom. The campaign accounts cited here do not establish his later fate. His career marks the limits of military aid from abroad: Japanese resources supported his return, but neither his royal claim nor that aid secured a restored Baekje kingdom. [S01, S02]