Nakrang Kingdom

The Nakrang Kingdom is often disputed whether it was part of the Chinese Lelang Commandery or it was an independent Korean nation at a separate location. The North Korean academic perspective often asserts that the Lelang Commandery did not hold land in the Korean Peninsula but rather held land in the Liaodong Peninsula around the Liao River. They claim it was a self governing country that lasted from the 2nd to 3rd Century BC which may have been one of the countries composing the Mahan confederacy.[2][3] The Chinese-style ruins and relics found in the area are claimed to have been introduced by trade or international relations and "it should not be interpreted as a basis for negating Korean characteristics of ruins and relics found there”.[4] The Chinese and Japanese perspectives state that the Nakrang Kingdom was just another name used to refer to the Lelang Commandery. This perspective claims that it was referred to with the name of a kingdom because the residents were autonomous but still were controlled by the commandery. The king of the Nakrang kingdom was also interpreted to be the same title as the governor of the commanery.[5][6]

Kenji Takahisa (Professor of Korean History at Senshu University) mentions “In that theory, there were Nakrang Kingdom which founded by old Korean ethnic group in Pyongyang, not Lelang Commandery of Han. However, it is difficult to prove this theory because there are many tombs influenced by Han culture found in Pyongyang, while there were not related archaeological and historical resources related to Lelang Commandery in Liaoning area.”[7]

Shouei Mishina, criticized that the claim that Nakrang Kingdom is not same as Lelang Commandery and said that it ignored the situation of Lelang Commandery in the later Han dynasty.[8]