How moral conviction at Namhansanseong defined the spirit of the Andong Kim clan and the ethos of late Joseon.
Sharing one ancestral seat (Bon-gwan), rooted in two legendary beginnings.
Progenitor: Kim Seon-pyeong (김선평), Goryeo Samtaesa founding lord. Progenitor of Kim Sang-heon, Kim Sang-yong, and 12 Joseon Chief State Councilors.
Progenitor: Kim Suk-seung (김숙승), grandson of King Gyeongsun of Unified Silla. Progenitor of Imjin War hero General Kim Si-min.
Located along the Nakdong River in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Andong has served for over a thousand years as the spiritual heart of Korean Neo-Confucian scholarship and clan tradition.
In modern Korea, roughly one in every five people (over 10 million individuals) carries the last name Kim (김 / 金). To Western and international observers, this often gives the impression that all Kims belong to a single enormous family.
In traditional Korean culture, however, your surname is only half of your ancestral identity. Your true biological descent is defined by your Bon-gwan (본관 / 本貫)—the specific ancestral city or geographical seat where your family line was originally founded over a millennium ago.
A Gimhae Kim (descended from King Suro of ancient Gaya), a Gyeongju Kim (Silla royalty), and an Andong Kim share no common ancestor and represent completely separate family trees.
The Andong Kim rose to become one of Korea's most influential aristocratic (Yangban) clans, producing prime ministers, royal queen consorts, military heroes, and moral philosophers.
Founded in 930 CE by Samtaesa Kim Seon-pyeong during the founding of Goryeo. Produced 12 Joseon Chief State Councilors and moral resistance leaders like Kim Sang-heon.
Descended from Silla Prince Kim Suk-seung. Renowned for military valor, including General Kim Si-min, who defended Jinju Fortress during the 1592 Imjin War.
김선평 (金宣平)
Samtaesa (Grand Chancellor / Founding Lord of Andong)
Founding progenitor of the Shin Andong Kim clan and key architect of Goryeo's unification victory at Gochang.
김상헌 (金尙憲)
Left State Councilor (좌의정 / Jwauijeong)
Icon of Korean Neo-Confucian moral rectitude and leadership during the 1636 Manchu Invasion.
김방경 (金方慶)
첨의중찬 (Cheomui Jungchan / Supreme Chancellor & General)
Military patriarch of the Gu (Old) Andong Kim clan whose loyalty and tactical mastery preserved Goryeo dynastic autonomy under Kublai Khan.
김시민 (金時敏)
Magistrate of Jinju / Posthumous Chief State Councilor (영의정)
Commander of the First Siege of Jinju, achieving one of the greatest military victories of the Imjin War.
김사형 (金士衡)
좌의정 (Left State Councilor)
Early Joseon statesman and intellectual leader whose leadership produced one of the most important cartographical achievements in world history.
King Taejo Wang Geon and local commander Kim Seon-pyeong decisively defeat Later Baekje at Gochang, creating the name 'Andong'.
General Kim Si-min of the Gu Andong Kim clan with 3,800 troops successfully defends Jinju Fortress against 30,000 Japanese soldiers.
Qing forces invade Joseon; King Injo holds out at Namhansanseong Fortress for 47 days before capitulation at Samjeondo.
Kim Ok-gyun and the Enlightenment Party seize the royal court in a three-day bid for rapid modernization and national independence.
How King Sejong’s visionary scholar bridged Confucian statecraft with Buddhist-Confucian synthesis, authored early Hangul scripture translations, and helped map the geography of Joseon.
When imperial encroachment threatened sovereign survival, how Confucian scholars and regional lineages of the Andong Kim took up arms to defend Korean independence.
The modern journey of a thousand-year lineage—rebuilding from the Korean War, establishing global communities in the Americas and Europe, and preserving ancestral identity in a digital world.
An authoritative genealogical survey of the fifteen primary sub-branches (Pa), their founding forebears, and the geographic dispersal of the clan across Korea.
Every biographical profile, lineage connection, and historical essay published on AndongKim.org is grounded in verifiable primary records—including the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty (조선왕조실록), collected literary works (문집), and centuries-old Jokbo genealogical registers.
Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Enshrining the Samtaesa of 930 CE.
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