고구려 전기 국정 운영에 관한 小考

초록

This study examines the principles and structural features through which state affairs were governed in early Koguryo. Although a rank system was already established during this period, there is little evidence for a fully developed bureaucratic apparatus or a differentiated system of permanent offices to support it. Under these conditions, governance in early Koguryo was not organized through a bureaucratic division of labor but was more likely operated through a functional division centered on ruling elites who held high-ranking titles. The study argues that governance in early Koguryo was structured around the Daega(Great Elites), who assumed responsibility for major domains of state affairs, while actual execution was carried out through household retainers maintained by each Daega. In this operational framework, official ranks functioned not merely as markers of hierarchical status but as institutions that conferred the qualifications and authority required for specific political functions. Major state matters were decided through consultation and coordination among the elites under the leadership of the king, and elite consensus and functional division constituted the core principles of governance within a feudal-like political order. Furthermore, this mode of governance should be understood as the result of the transformation and inheritance of feudal-style political traditions formed in earlier states such as Gojoseon and Buyeo, adapted to the political realities of early Koguryo. By doing so, this study seeks to move beyond a purely institutional approach and to reconstruct the ruling structure of early Koguryo with a focus on the actual mechanisms and principles of governance.

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