Editing Yeon Gaesomun (section)

{{Short description|Goguryeo military dictator (603–666)}}
<noinclude>{{Requested move notice|1=Yŏn Kaesomun|2=Talk:Yeon Gaesomun#Requested move 2 April 2025}}
</noinclude>{{More citations needed|date=November 2019}}
{{family name hatnote|Yeon||lang=Korean}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Yeon Gaesomun
| image               = Yon Kaesomun.gif
| caption             = Portrait of Yeon Gaesomun<br />(Portrait painted by guessing)
| width               = 150px
| office              = Dae Magniji (Grand Prime Minister) of Goguryeo
| term_start          = 642
| term_end            = 666
| predecessor         = None
| successor           = [[Yeon Nam-saeng]]
| birth_date          = 594
| birth_place         = 
| death_date          = 666
| death_place         = 
| nationality         = 
| other_names         = 
| occupation          = 
| children            = [[Yeon Nam-saeng]]<br />[[Yeon Nam-geon]]<br />[[Yeon Namsan|Yeon Nam-san]]
| father              = [[Yeon Taejo]]
| module              = {{Infobox Korean name/auto | child = yes
|hangul=%연개소문
|hanja=淵蓋蘇文
}}
}}
'''Yeon Gaesomun'''<ref name=name>Some Chinese and Korean sources stated that his surname was Yeongae ({{korean|labels=no|hangul=연개|hanja=淵蓋}}) and personal name was Somun ({{korean|labels=no|hangul=소문|hanja=蘇文}}), but the majority of sources suggest a one-syllable surname and a three-syllable personal name.</ref> ({{Korean|hangul=연개소문|hanja=淵蓋蘇文}}; 594–666) was a powerful military dictator in the waning days of the [[Goguryeo]] kingdom,<ref name="Lee">{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Ki-Baik|title=A New History of Korea|date=1984|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=067461576X|page=48}}</ref> which was one of the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]] of ancient [[Korea]]. He is remembered for his successful resistance against [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]] under [[Emperor Taizong of Tang|Emperor Taizong]] and his son [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Emperor Gaozong]].<ref name="Lee" />

Traditional Korean histories from Joseon painted Yeon Gaesomun as a despotic leader, whose cruel policies and disobedience to his monarch led to the fall of [[Goguryeo]]. However, his achievements in defending Goguryeo against Chinese onslaughts have inspired early Korean nationalist historians, most notably the 19th-century Korean historian and intellectual [[Sin Chaeho]], to term Yeon Gaesomun the greatest hero in Korean history. In popular culture Yeon Gaesomun is often remembered as an exceptional soldier-statesman without equal in [[History of Korea|Korean history]].