strongest kingdom

"What's wrong with Korea being in the poll?"

Its wrong for the simple reason it has never been anywhere close to a dominating power for the entirety of its existence. Even at its height of power, Koguri was a vassal of the Wei kingdom.

Koguryeo paid tribute to China; Koguryeo was not a vassal state of China. China had no direct control over Koguryeo. Not paying tribute to China meant no trade and bad diplomatic relations. And you don't want to piss off a neighbor that has about fifty times your population.

"Didn't Kwanggaeto repulse the invading Wa Japanese?"

amazing

Wa Japan was on the poll, right?

 "Didn't Kwanggaeto conquer much of Manchuria?"

So did countless other empires.

Manchuria was also on the poll, right?

 "Didn't Koguryeo repulse the Sui Chinese? "

Yes yet they never surrounded the sui emperor the way the TuJue did.

Okay.

"Didn't Koguryeo more than hold its own against the numerically superior Tang Chinese?"

The Tang were anything but numerical superior, the entire first invasion force of Tang was only 150,000 at most. Later campaigns might have been diffrent, but holding its own still doesn't deny the fact that Koguri was a Tang vassal before the invasion.

Yeah, later campaigns were different, with a lot more soldiers pouring into Koguryeo from China.

 "Didn't the Tang Chinese defeat Koguryeo only with the help of Shilla?"

The campaign is questionable, Northern Koguri has been overrun even without the participation of Silla. Only time will tell.

The fact is that Tang China conquered Koguryeo with the help of Shilla.

 "Didn't Shilla drive out the Tang Chinese out of the Korean peninsula within five years?"

The Tang withdrew due to Tibetan threat.

Shilla drove out the Tang Chinese out of Baekje land at the Battle of Busosan Fortress in 671. Shilla drove out the Tang Chinese out of Koguryeo land up to the Daedong River at the Battle of Maecho Fortress in 676. Isn't it a bit early for the Tibetan threat on Tang China to manifest?

 "Didn't Koryeo hold back the Mongols for 40 years?"

It submitted to mongols periodically through out, 40 years is merely the lapse of the final subjugation in which the king is forced to come to court.

In all Holding out doesn't equal strongest and even to a lesser degree, win.

Fine, but the Mongols kicked everyones' asses. Um, feel free to nitpick this comment as well.

You haven't answered my last question though. I admit that Korea was not as strong as China or Mongolia, but if Wa Japan is on the poll then Korea sure as hell deserves to be.

"Koguryeo paid tribute to China; Koguryeo was not a vassal state of China. China had no direct control over Koguryeo. Not paying tribute to China meant no trade and bad diplomatic relations. And you don't want to piss off a neighbor that has about fifty times your population."

Koguri is a vassal of the Wei, the Wei emperor granted it official titles just like it did to Wa Japan.

"Shilla drove out the Tang Chinese out of Baekje land at the Battle of Busosan Fortress in 671. Shilla drove out the Tang Chinese out of Koguryeo land up to the Daedong River at the Battle of Maecho Fortress in 676. Isn't it a bit early for the Tibetan threat on Tang China to manifest?"

Tibetan aggression began in 670 and in the memorial to the Tang emperor, an official clearly state that the conquest of Korea is secondary to the much more threatening Tibetan menace.

It submitted to mongols periodically through out, 40 years is merely the lapse of the final subjugation in which the king is forced to come to court.

In all Holding out doesn't equal strongest and even to a lesser degree, win.

Fine, but the Mongols kicked everyones' asses. Um, feel free to nitpick this comment as well."

Will, I am forced to say otherwise, examining the mongol battles and tactic deployment, they haven't shown to be all superb compared to the other conquest armies such as Turuk, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tang, Han, Sui, Jurchens, Manchus and others. For example their tactic of invading Song through Si Chuan was slow in progress compared to the rapid conquest of this territory by Sui, Han and Tang armies employing the same flanking strategy. Their approach to the Jin was a lot slower in process than the Jurchen Bliztkrieg a century ago that took Song and Liao. Their number gap with enemies isn't all that great compared to the Jurchens, which annililated Liao and Northern Song with merely initially 20,000. Nor to Duo Er Guen's Manchu troops which swept through the central plain with only 100,000. The only thing made mongols famous is their battle record quantity not quality. 

"You haven't answered my last question though. I admit that Korea was not as strong as China or Mongolia, but if Wa Japan is on the poll then Korea sure as hell deserves to be."

My point was neither should be. Instead there should be on the poll empires such as Xiongnu, Tujue, and Liao instead

"But keep in mind that Koguryo repulsed Sui when Sui was at its height.  There is a difference between fighting a whestler and when he broke his arm."

Sui was a short-life dynasty not regarded as a strong one by Chinese. It was overthrown and replaced by the Tang. It never had a height.

"Can you write down the chinese symbol for wei?  Just got curious.."

It's kinda hard to write for me. But, if you know something about the three kingdom period, the kingdom that cao cao's son built is called wei.

"It doesn't make up a good excuse for the "strongest nation" at that time running away at a country trifle their size"

When it's strong, it is strong. The US is a big country dominating the world today. Do people in Europe say anything about it being strong because of its size?