Koguryo unicorns

[Duncan Head]

Normally, North Korea's official state news agency is the place to go for reports ranging from the reclusive totalitarian state's unparalleled scientific achievements to the limitless love which its inhabitants reserve for their successive leaders.

Yet in what appears to be a genuine world exclusive, the inimitable Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has now broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have discovered a unicorn's lair.

Or rather, the report says that they have "recently reconfirmed" the lair of one of the unicorns ridden by the ancient Korean King Tongmyong, founder of a kingdom which ruled parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD.

The KCNA goes on to state that the location happens to be 200 metres from a temple in the North Korean capital, adding: "A rectangular rock carved with words "Unicorn Lair" stands in front of the lair."

"The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392)," says the report.

Archaeologists from the Academy of Social Sciences at North Korea's History Institute were credited with making the discovery.

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/30/unicorn-lair-discovered-north-korea

Tongmyong reigned c.37 BC – 19 BC, according to the standard chronology, though earlier dates such as that implied in the story are soemtimes seen. I suppose the Koryo-era inscription may well be genuine; however, as far as I can see the Pyongyang region was not part of the Koguryo kingdom until some time after its founding, so no royal mounts of the first Koguryo king are likely to have been stabled there.

[Patrick Waterson]

Pity: it would have added a certain flavour to early Korean army lists!

Patrick

[Erpingham]

A quick google shows they had a completely different species of unicorn to Europeans.  They look like a cross between a deer and a dragon and come in a range of interesting colours, not just white.  Much more of a modelling challenge for the discerning gamer

[Patrick Waterson]

Ah yes, the ki-rin (Chinese ky-lin).  These could fly and use magic: definitely the mount for the discerning general.    'Unicorn' is in fact a complete misnomer, except for the shared feature of being a kami of a particular location, but this is not the forum to get involved with common themes in Taoism, Shinto and European legend or the finer points of traditional feng shui geomancy.

Patrick

[Duncan Head]

Shock horror - unicorns may not exist after all!

Mystery surrounds what really goes on within the borders of North Korea, from the number of political prisoners held in brutal labour camps, to whether Kim Jong-un has really tied the knot.

It was nonetheless surprising to read last week that archaeologists in the secretive totalitarian state had claimed to have found a unicorn's lair.

There is only one problem with the story: it isn't exactly true.

It appears a combination of mistranslation and journalistic wishful thinking may be to blame for the fantastical claim, which was made in an English language report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The report, published on the KCNA's website last week, revealed that archaeologists from the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences had "reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (BC 277-AD 668)".

But as a Korean scholar called Sixiang Wang explained to the i09 website, a glance at the original Korean version of the story made clear that North Korean archaeologists were claiming no such thing.

For starters, there was no talk of unicorns, but of "kirins" or "Qilins" – which James Grayson, emeritus professor of Korean studies at Sheffield university, describes as "a four-legged beast with a dragon's head". His Sheffield colleague, Sukyeon Cho, said Kirins have "the body of a deer, the tail of a cow, hooves and a mane", as well as a horn jutting out from the top of their heads.

The kirin is important in North Korean folklore because it was the preferred mode of transport of King Tongmyong, the founder of Koguryo, an ancient Korean kingdom.

The North Koreans, said Sixiang Wang, were laying claim to a place called "Kiringul" – literally Kirin's lair or cave or grotto, according to Grayson – 200 metres from the Yongmyong Temple in Moran Hill in Pyongyang City.

There was no suggestion unicorns really lived in the lair. It was just a mythical name, said Grayson. Just as only small children expect to find giants at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland or fairies at the Fairy Steps in Beetham, Cumbria, North Koreans are highly unlikely to believe that kirins have ever actually lived in Kiringul.

As i09 puts it: "The thrust of the North Korean government's announcement is that it claims to have discovered Kiringul, and thus to have proven that Pyongyang is the modern site of the ancient capital of Koguryo."

Sixiang Wang is sceptical about the timing of North Korea's announcement, reported i09: "The Kirin was supposed to appear to wise rulers. North Korean officials may have been hoping to secure Pyongyang's connection to the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, while creating an association between their own president, Kim Jong-un, and the larger-than-life rulers of old."

- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/05/north-korea, and see also http://io9.com/5964879/no-the-north-korean-government-did-not-claim-it-found-evidence-of-unicorns - with a nice Kim-Jong-Unicorn pic in the comments.

[Erpingham]

You mean it was all part of a conspiracy to score points against their southern neighbours as to who is more Korean?  Well, I'm scandalised.  Next thing you know, they'll be a perceived unicorn-gap, a huge unicorn procurement programme, secret unicorn lairs - where will it all end?

[Patrick Waterson]

You mean it was all part of a conspiracy to score points against their southern neighbours as to who is more Korean?  Well, I'm scandalised.  Next thing you know, they'll be a perceived unicorn-gap, a huge unicorn procurement programme, secret unicorn lairs - where will it all end?

Probably with an acute shortage of virgins.

Hang on, would this be why certain oriental potentates insisted on having maiden guards?