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Gimhae Heo clan (Korean: 김해 허씨; Hanja: 金海許氏) is one of the Korean clans. This clan traces their origin to King Suro and his Queen Heo Hwang-ok, who are mentioned in the 13th-century Korean chronicle Samguk Yusa. King Suro was the founder of Gaya confederacy, and his descendant Gim Yu-sin is renowned for unifying the Silla polity.

Gimhae Heo clan trace their lineage to the legendary queen as the direct descendants of Queen Heo Hwang-ok's children with King Kim Suro.

After married Queen Heo and King Suro had 12 children, she requested Suro to let two of the children bear her maiden surname. Legendary genealogical records trace the origins of the Gimhae Heo to these two children.

The Gimhae Heo clan descended from the two sons of King Suro who used their mother's Queen Heo Hwang-ok's surname, instead of their father's.

According to Samguk Yusa Queen Heo Hwang-ok became the wife of King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya at the age of 16, after having arrived in Gaya confederacy in Korea in the year 48 AD by boat from a distant kingdom called "Ayuta", making her the first queen of Geumgwan Gaya.

Her native kingdom is believed to be located in India by some, there is however no mention of her in any pre-modern Indian sources. There is a tomb in Gimhae in Korea, that are believed by some to be of King Suro and Queen Heo, and a memorial of Queen Heo Hwang-ok in Hindu holy city of Ayodhya in India.

Origin

The Gimhae Heo clan founder was King Suro, whose wife was Queen Heo Hwang-ok. She set sail from India, later arriving at Gimhae. Sources have identified Ayodhya in India as the native place of Queen Heo Hwang-ok.

In 2004, scientific proof demonstrated that Heo Hwang-ok was a person of Indian origin. Two professors from the Faculty of Medicine at Seoul University and the Faculty of Medicine at Hallym University, reported their finding to The Genetics Society of Korea.

Having analyzed remains in an old burial mound containing what they assumed are remains of Heo Hwang-ok, they concluded that her ancestors were not from Northern Mongolia (origination of Koreans), but from India. These findings were based on analyses of sampled Mitochondrial DNA.

Queen Heo Hwang-ok's association with Ayodhya is based on the book "Heo Hwang-ok Route: From India to Gaya of Korea" by a senior Archeologist and Emeritus Professor at Hanyang University, Kim Byung-mo, which is considered speculative by some.

The Memorial of Heo Hwang-ok in Ayodhya, is visited by a large number of Koreans, especially in April, to pay tribute to Queen Heo as she is considered an ancestor to over 6 million Koreans.

She was supposedly of Indian-origin from Ayodhya and had traveled to Korea to marry King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya in 48 CE.