This paper examines the role of Han prestige goods in the establishment and maintenance of commandery rule in ancient Korea, focusing on the relationship between Koguryŏ and Xuantu Commandery. Since Han commandery rule was often established over multiple semi-independent local polities, Han authority required negotiation with local leaders. While marking their nominal subordination to Han commanderies, prestige goods also functioned as tools for drawing the leaders of these polities into the commandery system. In the case of Koguryŏ, the Sanguozhi records that its leaders visited Xuantu to receive court dress, clothes, and caps, while the prefect of Koguryŏ County supervised their mingji, or register. This paper discusses the possibility that the mingji served both as a symbol of Koguryŏ’s submission to the commandery and as a basis for the commandery’s registration of its population as commandery residents, at least nominally. The subsequent establishment of Ch’aekkuru can be understood as indirectly reflecting the fact that the provision of prestige goods served as an important basis for incorporating Koguryŏ into the commandery system, despite the instability of this relationship.