Buyeo Tribe Origins
- ▶ The Buyeo tribe was one of ancient China's minority ethnic groups and bears no relation to the Korean race.
- ▶ Buyeo was a kingdom founded by the Yemaek (ethnic group from Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula) who had ancestral ties to various Korean kingdoms.
China claims that because the Buyeo tribe originated in Shandong and was subordinate to China, it is considered to be Xianbei, one of the local cultures of China. This is a Northeast Project claim with the purpose of severing the ties between Buyeo and Korea.
Buyeo was a kingdom founded by ancient Korean people, the Yemaek tribe, who had ancestral ties to Gojoseon, Koguryo, Okjeo, and Dongye among others. China's historical archive, the Records of the Three Kingdoms, contains records indicating that Buyeo was part of Yemaek territory, and Koguryo was referred to as Maek-in or Yemaek. It also states that Yemaek language and laws were similar to the Buyeo, and even referred to the people as "another type of Buyeo." In addition, the records referred to the people of Eastern Okjeo in Hamgyong Province as Ye People and the political powers of the east coast(Korea) region as Ye. Because Yangmaek in the Liaodong Peninsula was incorporated into Koguryo, it's clear that the indigenous Yemaek tribes lived in the northern regions of Liaodong Peninsula and Korean Peninsula.
Buyeo and Yemaek not only shared a common ancestry, but a sense of tribalism as well. Both Koguryo and Baekje claimed to be legitimate successors of Buyeo. Koguryo had advocated domestically and internationally that its founding father Jumong was a Buyeo descendant, and Baekje claimed in a diplomatic document in 427 CE that both Baekje and Koguryo had been derived from Buyeo. In addition, surnames for Baekje royalty were Buyeo, Yeo, and Hae, and the kingdom even renamed itself Buyeo during the King Seong period.
Buyeo has been proven to be independent from Chinese history through archaeological evidence. A unique culture developed in Buyeo regions independent from Chinese culture. In particular, the that developed in the middle basin of the Second Songhua River is especially similar to the bronze culture from the Liaodong Peninsula Province and Korean Peninsula.
These facts confirm that Buyeo was the forebear to Korea, and the Yemaek tribe had ancestral ties to the Buyeo tribe.