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Choe Mu-Seon (1326?~1395) was a medieval Korean scientist, inventor and military commander during the late Goryeo Dynasty and early Joseon Dynasty. He was best known for introducing gunpowder to Korea and inventing various unique fire weapons to repel the Japanese pirates that plundered coastal regions of the Korean Peninsula.

Choe was born into a wealthy family in Yeongcheon, Gyeongsang province; his father was an official in the administration. He was qualified as a military officer through civil service examination. At the time, the government's control of Goryeo was crumbling, and at the same time, Japanese pirates crossed the Korean Strait and plundered almost all coastal regions of the Korean Peninsula. In the southern part of the nation, Japanese pirates even marched deep inland, burning villages and killing inhabitants; However, the Goryeo government was not able to control the pirates, despite the efforts of generals Yi Song Gye and Choi Yong.

In his childhood, while he was at the royal palace with his father, who was working for the king, Choe saw fireworks made by Mongols and Chinese, who at the time had indirect control of Goryeo (their influence was repealed by King Gongmin). After he became a soldier, he often thought that if Koreans had been able to manufacture gunpowder and firearms, the Japanese pirates would have been repelled easily. From then, Choe decided to find out how to make gunpowder: he visited China, which was then ruled by the Yuan Dynasty, which was a Mongolian Dynasty. The Mongols and Chinese wanted to keep their technology secret (not only gunpowder manufacture, but also cotton growing and many other technologies). Choe wanted to find a clue to the nature of the process, or if able, to smuggle away some examples of secret items. He was only able to find out the three key ingredients of gunpowder; sulfur, slack or fine coal, and the most important, niter. However, the way to get niter was extremely hard and he did not know how to mix or combine those materials; he began his long project, and repeated various unsuccessful experiments.

After chains of failures, Choe even thought about abandoning his research, but at the time, he heard about a wealthy Chinese merchant named Lee Yuan, who had great knowledge about gunpowder. Choe visited Lee while he was staying in Goryeo for his business, and asked him how to make gunpowder out of the three ingredients. Lee at first did not tell Choe about the gunpowder since it was against the Mongol and Chinese law, but later he was impressed by Choe's efforts and patriotism and gave him the secrets of gunpowder. Between the years of 1374 to 1376^[1], Korea began its first productions of gunpowder.

Then Choe demonstrated the power of the new weapon in front of King U and many other court advisers; and almost every one of them were impressed by its devastating power compared to other arms which were already in existence in Korea. The government gave him great support, establishing the official laboratory and factory for gunpowder in 1377; here Choe invented various kinds of cannon and other firearms. Among his inventions were Hwacha and Shin Ki Chon, the first anti-personnel weapons and multiple launch rocket system. Then he put his inventions into real battle against the Japanese at the Battle of Jinpo, in which he participated as one of the Korean commanders; the battle was easily won by Korean forces, thanks to the gunpowder. He also began to build warships to chase off the pirates.

Since his inventions greatly contributed to his country, he was able to be promoted and participate in politics. However he was already old when he introduced gunpowder, and his later days saw the change of Dynasty from Goryeo to Joseon. Soon after the foundation of the new Joseon Dynasty, Choe retired from both military and political affairs, and died in 1395; after his death, King Taejo gave him the honorary title of vice-premier. He was still remembered in Korea as the perfect role model for many scientists and as a patriot.

1. ^ http://seer.snu.ac.kr/trip/anc-4.html

• Fire Arrow
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