South Korea, a country we are very familiar with. This country is very close to our country, and everyone can learn about South Korea through various channels. For example, the most common is Korean movies and TV series, through which everyone has a certain understanding of South Korea. In these film and television works, we can find that the vast majority of People with the surnames of Koreans are Kim, Lee, and Park, and it seems that there are many people with these three surnames in South Korea. In fact, in South Korea, the population of Kim, Lee and Park is indeed relatively large, accounting for about half of the total population of the country. The reason why so many people in South Korea have these three surnames is directly related to the two dynasties of South Korea.
Let's take a look at the general situation of the number of surnames in Korea. According to current statistics, the Kim surname is the largest surname in South Korea, accounting for 21.5% of the total population of South Korea. The lee surname is the second largest surname in South Korea, accounting for 14.7% of the total population of South Korea. The surname Park is the third largest surname in South Korea, accounting for 8.4% of the total population of South Korea. Together, these three surnames account for 44.6 percent of South Korea's population, accounting for almost half of the country's population. In addition to these three, the fourth place is the surname Zheng, which accounts for 4.8% of the total population of South Korea. In fifth place is the surname Choi, which accounts for 4.7% of South Korea's total population. In sixth place is the surname Zhao, which accounts for 2.9% of south Korea's total population. I won't say more about the latter. It can be seen that although the surnames of Zheng, Cui and Zhao are large surnames in South Korea, the population is far less than the first three. Let's now look at why there are so many people in the first three surnames, and which dynasties in Korea are related?
Kim surname
The Kim surname is not only the most populous surname in Korea, but also has a very early origin. During the Silla period, the Kim surname was the big surname at that time. In 57 BC, Park Hyuk-ju was elected king and established Xu Nava, a regime that would later be Silla. At this time, Silla was still in the period of tribal alliance, so the throne was not passed on within one family, but within the three families of The Park surname, the Jin surname, and the former surname. In the Middle Ages of Silla, Silla was influenced by Chinese culture and entered the feudal society period, and the Jin family controlled the Silla throne. During the ancient period of Silla, the Jin surname still controlled the throne of Silla. However, in the 10th century, Park also briefly served as king of Silla. Silla coexisted for about 1,000 years, and the Jin surname ruled for about 600 years, that is, the Jin surname existed as a national surname for about six hundred years.
As the surname of Silla, the Kim surname has grown in number after six hundred years of reproduction. Not only that, but in ancient times, there was also the custom of giving surnames to courtiers, and if the courtiers had great merit, the monarch would give them the surname as a reward. Under this reward, there are naturally more and more people with the surname Jin. Not only that, after the fall of Silla, due to the large number of people and a long history, many dynasties still controlled important powers in the future, so the status was naturally getting higher and higher, and the number of people was also increasing.
Surname Lee
The reason why the population of the Lee surname is large is related to another dynasty in Korea, which is the Lee Dynasty Korea, which is also the last feudal dynasty in Korean history. In 1392, the Goryeo general Lee Sung-gyu overthrew Goryeo and established a new regime. After that, Li Chenggui sent emissaries to the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang gave the newly established regime the name Of korea. In this way, Li Chenggui officially ruled Korea, and Korea became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. After the Sino-Japanese War, Korea became Japan's sphere of influence. Under the pressure of Japan, the name of Korea was changed to the Korean Empire. In 1910, Japan and Lee Korea signed the Treaty of Annexation between Japan and Korea, and Korea and Japan were formally peaceful and became part of Japan, and Lee's Korea was officially destroyed.
Lee's Joseon has existed for 518 years, and like Silla, after so many years of rule, the Korean royal family has become larger and larger, and the number of people has increased. Coupled with reasons such as giving names, the number of people surnamed Li is even greater.
Park surname
When talking about Silla, it is said that in the ancient period of Silla, due to the rule of the tribe, the throne was passed down between the surnames of Park, Jin, and Xi. The first king of Silla was the surname Park, who served as king for more than two hundred years in ancient Silla. During these two hundred years, the number of people surnamed Park has naturally increased. Of course, due to the lack of rule time than kim and the long time of lee korea behind it, the number of people is relatively small.
It can be said that Silla and Lee's Joseon are one of the reasons why the number of People with Kim, Lee and Park surnames is relatively large in South Korea. But if that were the case, South Korea wouldn't have so many people with these three surnames. Even if they were kings for a long time, no matter how large the members of the royal family, they could not reproduce to the whole country everywhere. After all, population growth has its own laws, and a surname cannot increase so rapidly in a short period of time. Another reason why the population of these three surnames is so large is related to Japan.
As mentioned earlier, in 1910, as a result of the Treaty of Annexation between Japan and Korea, Korea became part of Japan, and Lee's Korea was officially destroyed. In this way, Korea entered the Japanese era. It was not until 1945, when Japan surrendered, that the Korean Peninsula became independent again. That is to say, Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula for 35 years. If you count from the signing of the Treaty of Maguan, Japan has ruled Korea for 55 years. When Japan ruled Korea, its influence on Korea was particularly large. One of these things has had a major impact on Korean surnames.
Before Japan annexed Korea, the situation on the Korean Peninsula was similar to that of Japan before the Meiji Restoration, and civilians had only names and no surnames. Only those nobles had surnames. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan stipulated that everyone must have a surname for a certain period of time. In this way, Japanese civilians began to have their own lives. However, because the vast majority of people are illiterate and really don't know what their surname is, many people have strange ideas. For example, Murakami, Kameda, Inoue, etc. This is why there are so many surnames in Japan. After Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula, it was discovered that the people here did not have surnames either. Therefore, a decree was also issued stipulating that everyone must have their own surname in a short period of time.
The practice of the people on the Korean Peninsula is completely different from that of the Japanese, who give up their own surnames, and the level of the people on the Korean Peninsula is still relatively high. Because the Surnames of Kim, Lee, and Park were all royal families before, their status was noble, and they had a great influence on the Korean Peninsula, plus there were many dignitaries and nobles around everyone who were surnamed with these surnames, so the vast majority of people directly used these surnames. For a time, the number of surnames Jin, Li and Park surged. This is also the reason why vietnam has many Nguyen surnames. However, this is also related to the previous two dynasties. If it weren't for Silla and Lee's Joseon, south Korea wouldn't have had so many dignitaries with the surnames Kim, Lee, and Park.
In fact, if you look at it here, you can find that even if Koreans have the same surname, there may be no relationship between the two. For example, Song Huiqiao and Song Zhongji, who were very popular before, there is no relationship between them. Some people have noble ancestral status, and some people are commoners. This led to many people in South Korea who later spent money to buy their origins. People of commoner origins would find people of noble birth and pay them to add themselves to their genealogy in order to improve their origins. This phenomenon was very popular in Korea at that time.
This is why the surnames Kim, Lee, and Park are so numerous in South Korea. In fact, not only in the film and television works, these surnames are more numerous, but also can be seen by looking at the name of the President of South Korea. Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee, Kim Doo-hwan, Kim Dae-jung, Park Geun-hye and others are among the three surnames.
Resources:
History of the Three Kingdoms, Silla Benji, Records of the Joseon Dynasty