Okjeo was a small tribal state which arose on the East Sea coast very early in the Common Era. It occupied roughly the area of the Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea, and bordered the other minor state of Dongye on the south. It was established on territory which had been briefly governed by the Chinese Lintun commandery , and previously occupied by the Imdun people. Both Okjeo and Dongye were later absorbed by Goguryeo.

Our knowledge of Okjeo is fragmentary and based on thirdhand records at best. Among the things we do know are that the Okjeo people interred the dead of a family in a single coffin, that they practiced arranged marriage by which the child-bride lived with the child-groom's family until adulthood, and that their political system did not include a monarch. Their language was similar to that of Goguryeo and Fuyu.

In the 1st or 2nd century CE, King Taejo of Goguryeo reduced Okjeo to a tributary, which delivered tributes of local products to the Goryeo court in much the same way that the Three Kingdoms of Korea later sent tribute to China (Lee, 1984, p. 24).

During the waning years of the kingdom of Fuyu (or Buyeo) in 285, we read that "the king's sons and brothers had fled to Okchŏ in eastern Korea" (Lee, 1984, p. 22). Okjeo thus clearly retained some level of independence at this time.

References

Lee, K. (1984). A new history of korea. Tr. by E.W. Wagner & E.J. Schulz, based on the 1979 Korean ed. Seoul: Iljogak. ISBN 89-337-0204-0

See also

• History of Korea
• List of Korea-related topics