Assessment
Kim Busik was a patrician of Silla origin, and though he himself was a practicing Buddhist, he supported Confucianism over Buddhism as the guiding principle of governance and favored presenting tributes to the Chinese emperor to prevent a conflict with China and in deference to the lofty (sadae). It thus appears that his background and tendencies would have been reflected in the Samguk Sagi.
Some Korean historians are critical of the records provided in the Samguk Sagi, citing a bias towards China and the Silla-centered view of the Three Kingdoms period. In the Biographies portion for instance, not only are a majority of the subjects Sillanese (68%), but the Silla biographies are filled with glorious exemplars of loyalty and bravery. Nonetheless, the formal mechanism of the Samguk Sagi was to treat the Three Kingdoms equally. For example, Kingdoms of Goguryeo and Baekje were referred, along with Silla, with the term "aguk (아국, 我國)" and their forces with the term "abyeong (아병, 我兵)", meaning "our nation" and "our troops" respectively. Furthermore, through the Samguk Sagi, Kim Busik praised a castellan of Goguryeo who defeated The Emperor Taizong of Tang at the Siege of Ansi Fortress and judged the Goguryeo castellan a hero.
However, what all historians agree upon is that Kim Busik's history is critical to the study of Korean history during the Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla periods. Further, recent archaeological evidence provides verification of astronomical events, and comparison with Chinese and Japanese records have shown the Samguk Sagi to be surprisingly accurate.
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