   munmu of silla (occasionally spelled: moonmu) (626â681) (reigned 661â681il-yeon: samguk yusa: legends and history of the three kingdoms of ancient korea, translated by tae-hung ha and grafton k. mintz. book two, page 79. silk pagoda (2006). isbn 1-59654-348-5) was the thirtieth king of the korean kingdom of silla. he is usually considered to have been the first ruler of the unified silla period. munmu was the son of king muyeol and munmyeong, who was the younger sister of kim yu-shin. under his father's reign, he held the office of pajinchan, who apparently was responsible for maritime affairs, and played a key role in developing the country's diplomatic links with t'ang china. he was born prince beopmin (ë²ë¯¼, æ³æ), and took the name munmu when he succeeded his father to the throne. ==unification of three kingdoms== king munmu took the throne in the midst of a long conflict against baekje and goguryeo, shortly after general gyebaek and baekje had been defeated at sabi by general kim yu-shin in 660. in these struggles, silla was heavily aided by the tang. the first years of his reign were spent trying to defeat goguryeo, following an abortive attempt in 661. finally, in 667, he ordered another attack which led to the defeat of goguryeo in 668. after the small isolated pockets of resistance were eliminated, munmu was the first ruler ever to see the korean peninsula completely unified. ===war with tang china===  king munmu then faced the challenge of freeing his country from tang domination. after the fall of goguryeo, tang created the protectorate general to pacify the east and attempted to place the entire korean peninsula, including silla, under its rule. to prevent this, munmu forged alliances with goguryeo resistance leaders such as geom mojam and anseung, and launched a frontal attack on the tang forces occupying former baekje territories. the struggle lasted through the early 670s. in 674, tang and its former ally, silla, were in constant battle, as king munmu had taken over much of former baekje and goguryeo territory from the t'ang and fostered resistance against them. emperor gaozong, in anger, arbitrarily declared king munmu's brother kim inmun the king munmu and commissioned liu rengui with an army to attack silla. however, king munmu formally apologized and offered tribute, emperor gaozong ordered a withdrawal and recalled kim inmun. in 675, li jinxing (æè¬¹è¡) reached silla territory with mohe forces that submitted to tang. however, the tang force
626_births 681_deaths 7th-century_monarchs_in_Asia Silla_rulers