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The Dongmyong and Haemosu Tale of Buyeo constantly displays the notion of 'the son of Heaven', 'Heavenly Emperor' or 'the descendants of Heaven', thereby justifying the Buyeo and its people as the centre of the world. The strong royal power enjoyed firmly established hereditary system, which was similar to that of Old Joseon. Buyeo seemed to have had a certain will to influence such powers as Ye, and Okjeo, who was thought to be of homogeneous 'ye' ethnic origin. To carry out its 'Greater Buyeo' design, Buyeo may have subdued Upru to advance into the Maritime Province of Siberia and northeast Korea. Buyeo also thought of its southern neighbour Koguryo as an epigone. Such attitude led Buyeo to believe that it was the 'will of Heaven' that Koguryo should submit to the world of Buyeo, which was the sole benefactor of legitimacy. Hence, there is a high possibility that Buyeo had obviously possessed its distinct world view to its surrounding Dongyi (東夷) people.

The Juji, a chief monk of a Buddhist temple, was in charge of managing the temple to which he was assigned in the Goryeo period. The Juji also played the most important role in financially managing the temple. In principle, the Jujies of major temples were typically appointed by the government in the Goryeo period. However, when a temple was established by a certain person, the Juji of the temple was usually appointed and succeeded by privately without any influence of the government. But when privately constructed temples were large-scaled and important, the government made attempts to manage them consistently. The Jujies of temples taught Buddhist tenets to general monks and presided over Buddhist meditations. They also arranged various Buddhist events held in temples and were accountable for the maintenance of temples and repairing temple buildings. Besides, they were responsible for handling various emergency situations. When they perfectly carried out their tasks and exhibited their abilities, they received respects from general monks. Jujies were also in charge of financially managing temples. Some Jujies made lots of profits by forcefully loaning a huge amount of grains to poor peasants. In addition, they played a crucial role in expanding the land of temples. While some Jujies helped poor people and therefore received lots of respects, others attracted people's attention by economically managing temples. Some even donated their private wealth to temples. As the Juji system was poorly maintained in the late Goryeo period, some monks who won the king's favor often exerted a significant influence on Buddhist policies and bribes were frequently paid to exercise an influence on appointing the Jujies of temples. Lot of Jujies did not try to repair damaged buildings or facilities of temples. Besides, quite a few Jujies privatized the properties of temples. As a result. the qualities of Jujies were often questioned, raising the argument that those who behaved reasonably, had no desire for wealth, and were virtuous should be Jujies. These explain why the economic reformation of temples was often linked with the qualifications of Jujies in the early Joseon period.

In this article, how the authorities exacted punished upon violent actions committed between people engaged in spousal relationship in the 15th century is examined, in order to determine through what kind of processes the Joseon government would have tried to establish the Confucian order of family inside the Joseon society. 『Dae-Myeongryul(大明律)』, which the Joseon government consulted and utilized in its penal administration, was as we all know based upon a Confucian set of values. We can see that from articles that are meant to address occasions of spousal abuse. In the authorities' dealing with such cases, female offenders were punished even by the fact alone that they resorted to the act of violence, and were punished even harsher than persons involved in other ordinary cases of violence. Yet male offenders were only punished when the female was left with injuries like losing a tooth or a having a broken finger (in other words, when the female was left with 'Jeolsang'/折傷-type damages), or left with injuries even more serious. And added to that, only received weaker punishments. In the meantime, the articles which contained these instructions also contained instructions regarding the range of offenses which would be punished only with the victim's own filing a complaint(親告罪), and instructions regarding the issue of divorce. And those instructions were implemented discriminatively, depending upon the gender of the offender. We can say that the articles which addressed the spousal violence issue at the time were based upon a familial relationship which granted the husband with a superior status. The Joseon government applied laws inside 『Dae-Myeongryul』 to cases in which spousal violence led to the demise of one of them, and tried to establish a 'husband-based' order inside the family. And present or former governmental officials, who were in love with females other than their wives, happened to use violence against their wives, and in those occasions, they were punished not on the charge of committing violence, but on the charge of hurting the ideal spousal relationship laid out by the Confucian teachings. Not the condition of the victim, and not the articles inside 『Dae-Myeongryul』, but the cause of establishing a rightful spousal relationship, was considered as top priority by the government. And entering the latter half period of the 15th century, instead of providing the female victims with legal means to file a lawsuit or seek a divorce which would enable them to escape from the violent and oppressive situation, the government kept merely emphasizing the 'wife's obligation to the husband'. The characteristics of the 15th century Joseon government's familial policy can be summed up in two things. First, the kings and high ranking officials, who were in the position to determine the policy direction of the Joseon government, used 『Dae-Myeongryul』 as the main legal basis for penal administration, yet did not consider it as an unflexible, absolute standard for exacting punishment, and only used it as a device for establishing Confucian familial order. Second, in exacting punishment on cases of violent actions between the husband and wife, the cause of establishing a spousal relationship, based upon Confucian values and teachings, was considered more important than tending to the needs and interest of the victims.

The Samsoo-Province (三水府) Revolt on December 1785, 9th year of King Jeongjo's era, occurred under the leadership of Woo Deok-ha (禹德夏) of Samsoo-Province. He had personal relationships with politicians such as Song Deok-sang (宋德相) and Song Hwan-eok (宋煥億) who had fallen from power in the early years of King Jeongjo's period. These overthrown politicians took the lead in the political situation in King Jeongjo's early years and were subsequently exiled to Samsoo-Province at that time, and Woo Deok-ha was of material help to them. However, Song Deok-sang and Song Hwan-eok, who had been accused of being close associates of Hong Gook-young (洪國榮), were unable to recover their political power. After the death of Song Deok-sang, Woo Deok-ha and his colleagues, potentates, exiles and intellectuals of Samsoo-Province, tried to reverse the political situation by sending a list of desired assassinations, which included some high-ranking officials such as Kimg Jong-soo (金鐘秀), to their faction in the capital. Woo Deok-ha provided accommodations and meals to Geosa (居士 a hermit), like Yu Tae-soo (柳泰守) and Yu Han-gyeong (柳漢敬), in Samsoo-Province and became intimate with them. He asked Yu Tae-soo to deliver the list to Han Ga (韓哥) of Soonan (順安). Yu Tae-soo and his company, however, were arrested in Dancheon when they were delivering the list to Han Ga and they were immediately put to trial for a felony offense. Woo Deok-ha had been executed during the hermits’s trial and the facts of the case died with him. However, it was revealed that potentates, exiles, wanderers, hermits, and intellectuals of Samsoo-Province were implicated in the case. Moreover, there was a rumor that approximately ten thousand hermits throughout the country would raise an army. With the statement of Woo Pil-mo (禹弼謨) about Mireuksindo (彌勒信徒 the followers of Maitreya Buddha), the trial entered a new phase. Lee Yong-beom (李龍範), who was one of the followers of Maitreya Buddha, had held a ceremony to greet Sinjang (神將 a heavenly General). Through this ceremony, they tried to meet a new world, the world of Maitreya Buddha. They also advocated Mireukseongin (彌勒聖人 the saint of Maitreya) and propagated the important theory of Jeongamrok (鄭鑑錄), that a man from Jeong's family would come into power. By examining this case, it has become possible to understand the way of life of hermits. They wandered everywhere and survived through begging, fortune-telling, prayer, making Buddhist invocations, peddling, etc. They also were taken up on a charge of revolt from time to time. Although the hermits were arrested before they were able to deliver the list and therefore complete their crime, their involvement carries significant meaning. First of all, more insight is given into the political situation of the early years of King Jeongjo's era, right after overthrow of Hong Gook-young, Song Deok-sang. In particular, it allows us to understand the subject of the series of political disturbances. Moreover, the hermits’s way of life was brought to light as a result of their examination on the trial records from "Chuangeupgukan (推案及鞫案) ". The aspect of how Mireuksindo had pursued a utopia, as it is called, a new world or the world of Maitreya Buddha through the ceremony of greeting Sinjang also has been disclosed. The social and cultural historical meaning of this case is as below. It shows the definite aspect of hermit's life and their role in political disturbances. And it is the first concrete example of their relation with Mireuksindo in the period after King Sookjong's era.

The oldest known chanmun accompanying a jinyeong portrait are those written by Park In-beom(朴仁範) on the portraits of Beomil guksa(梵日國師) and Muaeji guksa. Although exact dates are unknown, Park In-beom played an active part in late Unified Silla, from the 9th century to the 10th century. Replacing chanmun with a poem was a pattern often seen in the Joseon Dynasty as well. This poem was written for a eulogy, but the verse is good and has excellent literary quality. There are various writers of chanmun as mentioned above, and there is the self-written eulogy in which the person in the portrait writes about himself. This is a kind of self-reflection in which the subject writes about the life he has led. Someone said that this self-written eulogy is the confirmation of perception toward a disciple but I don't like this expression because it seems to take chanmun too pedagogically. In fact, the meaning of the expression confirmation of perception toward a disciple itself can not be readily grasped. But seen from the explanation that it is like the credentials of a mature disciple, a self-written eulogy is understood as the intent of the writer to have his disciples realize his thoughts through the eulogy. But as introduced in this book, too, the self-written eulogy seldom functions this way. On the contrary, in most cases the self-written eulogy is the subject's critical self-reflection, a monologue filled with compassion and pleasant irony about his crooked life. But thanks to the deep philosophy of the subject, these bitter words do not seem bitter and make readers see them not as an irony but a thorny paradox. The level of chanmun can be measured by how well these elements were mixed, which is where their charm and value lies. Although chanmun should be discussed together with jinyeong, as it is very important material, jinyeong has been studied on its own up till now and a serious approach to chanmun has seldom been made. When chanmun is read and observed, the value of jinyeong naturally increases. In this sense, it is thought close examination of the content of chanmun is an indispensable methodology.

The two Koreas divided since liberation from Japanese occupation have established different historical views despite sharing historical experiences from when the two had been one nation due to ideological differences. As a result, historians from the South and North evaluate historical facts differently. However, historians from both Koreas agree much on the late Joseon Dynasty and Silhak studies. The late Joseon Dynasty was a crucial period to both South and North Korean historians in abolishing the historical views set by Japanese colonialists. In North Korea, the era was dealt with based on Marxism and focusing on capitalist relationships. Meanwhile, in the South, apart from identity theory, the period is perceived as a transitional time when feudalism dismantled and capitalism began to emerge. In addition, Silhak has been historically valued as a innovative and advanced ideology in North Korea from the 1950s. South korean scholars also regard Silhak positively as "modern-oriented." Accordingly, the present study deals with how Silhak is perceived specifically in North Korea and how the views have changed over time. I particular, the North Korean interpretation of traditional history in the process of building a socialist system has been analyzed based on North Korean scholar Kim Ha-myeong's Yeonam Park Ji-won (1955). In South Korea, the disclosure of North Korean materials from the late 1980s when democratization began boosted studies on North Korea. But obtaining materials is not easy and so studies face restrictions in expanding to diverse fields. Even the majority of materials recently acquired are propagandist materials made since the 1970s when North Korea's Juche-Ideology took ground to make it still difficult to overcome restrictions in North Korean studies. This is not completely irrelevant to North Korea's destruction of historical views before the establishment of Juche-Ideology and mass production of studies supporting the North Korean system. Research materials before Juche-Ideology have been banned and discarded. As so, it is very difficult to find materials of historical studies conducted in North Korea from a rather scientific perspective from the 1950s and 60s. Regarding this, analysis of studies on realism in North Korea through Kim Ha-myung's Yeonam Park Ji-won printed in 1955 will show how differently historical facts were viewed before and after the founding of the Juche-Ideology.

Before modern times, Europeans met Koreans a few times in Korea but Siebold had very rare opportunity as European to meet and interchange with Koreans in the city of the third country as Nagasaki. It was possible by the repatriation system for castaways in premodern northeastern Asia. P. Siebold was German doctor who was dispatched to Dutch trading center in Dejima in Nagasaki. He met Korean castaways in March 1827 and wrote informations from them in his book, Nippon. Nippon was the most comprehensive and profound work of the European writings about Japan in Early 19th century. It was a guide for Europeans to understand Asia including Japan. So the chapter Koorai (Korea) of this book became a manual for studying Korea. It is interesting to find Siebold's recognition about Korea in the chapter Koorai of Nippon. Although he met few Koreans and came contact with very small part of Korean culture, he tried to be objective to understand Korea. He excluded negative standpoint toward Korea which had been originated from H. Hamel and tried to understand Korean society and culture at the base of cultural relativism. In general, he was sympathetic and friendly to Korea and criticized European cultural imperialism. Korean castaways who met Siebold sympathized with him although he was the first European they met. They had very good impression of Europeans including Siebold. The interchange between Siebold and Korean castaways in Nagasaki, the city of international trade in Japan in early 19th century made an opportunity for Korean to understand Europe and for Europeans to form the recognition about Korea. We can't know the exact extent of the influence of this interchange, but it surely had affirmative influence.

A national resistance movement at Daihoji broke on the fourth of April in 1919 as a part of the March First Movement by the residents of Daihoji-myun. They attacked the Japanese police station in town and punished the policemen in it. This resistance movement was mainly led by the students at the Doho School which, founded by the Nam family of Euryong, had inculcated patriotism along with Chinese classics, often inviting such prominent scholars as Jinha Yu of Hwaseo-School, Cheolseung Lee and Unseok Han nearby. With such patriotic education, Juwon Nam, one of its students, and his descendents actively led the March First Movement at Daihoji and were even imprisoned. In meantime, the Daihoji March First Movement was joined by Chondogyo believers at Dang-jin area. They were attempting at their own resistance movement after hearing about one of those resistance movements at Seoul, but another news about the Daihoji movement led them to it to join. Among the believers was Daljun Lee who was later imprisoned to death. In sum, it is noted that the Daihoji March First Movement successfully declared people's strong will to be independent from Japanese ruling and clearly embodied their Theory of Rejecting Japanese into a form of resisting Japan and saving their nation.

With the Liberation from the Japanese ruling, forest-products supplies were windling as North Korea block up the stream of distribution. on the other hand demand for forest-products increased as the urban population increase rapidly. As a result the price had soared. At that time the owner of forests cut down to sell them. The pace of deforestation was so great that the government decide to set up Tree-planting Plan The Plan that the government offered was organizing the forestry mutual-aid society and the forest land-owners' cooperative society. But this was similar to that of Japanese Government-General in choson. The organizing of the forestry mutual-aid society was discussed for the first time when the government submitted 'Act of forest conservancy' to National Assembly. The owner of forests was against that. For they worried about the land reform that would raise by this act. but with the appearance of the Park Chung-hee regime, the discussion building the forestry mutual-aid society had resumed and finally it launched. The forestry mutual-aid society was comprised of local residents, and mobilized them to levied service such as tree-planting on the national forest or the private forest that belong to landowners.

In June 1951, the frontline was being fixed down to the vicinity of the 38th parallel, and the U.N. forces and the Communist army began to seek for a cease-fire. In preparation for the talks to arrange that, both parties swiftly came up with their own negotiation strategies, established chains of command of their own, and put together delegations for the impending talks. The terms they each set before agreeing upon a cease-fire, and the general objectives set by both parties during this time period, later influenced and defined the entire talk process. The chain of command on both parties, established during the process of cease-fire talks, cleary revealed the true major forces that were involved in the Korean war. With the U.S. entrance into the war under the name of United Nations forces, and the entrance of the Chinese army as well, turned the Korean war into a completely different war. The major players of this new war were no other than U.S. and China. And those two became the opponents at the table of the cease-fire talks as well. Both U.S. and China established a chain of command for the cease-fire talks with a structure that would enable them to lead the negotiations, and put together a negotiation team which would see to the realization of details and actual procedures. The chain of command on the Communist army's part was comprised of a hotline which connected Stalin to Mao Tsetung to 리커눙, and also a negotiation team. On the other hand, U.S. established a chain of command which excluded not only the U.N. but also South Korea, and conducted the negotiations with direct instructions from Washington. South Koreans protested, but their protest was not heard, and U.S. put together a delegation of its own for negotiations. Because of such chain of command, both South and North Koreas had no say during the negotiation process, and were not authorized to weigh in the final decision. U.S. excluded South Korea, and China and Russia asked for North Korea's silence. The roles of both South and North Koreas were very limited. Yet China, which considered and treated North Korea as a fellow Socialist brother state, at least in formality presented the North Korean representative at the negotiation table, while the representative for the 'South Korean' part was appointed by the U.N. Commander in chief, and served as merely an observer with no authority. It did not report to either the Korean government or President Lee Seung Man, or received orders from them either. Under these circumstances, South Korea was shunned out of the negotiation chamber, and that itself caused the Koreans' protest against the cease-fire talks to grow even more fierce. It was never merely an issue of national sentimentality or anger. The structure and inner workings of the delegations arranged for the cease-fire talks eventually produced a cease-fire treaty which had China & North Korea on one side, and the U.N. forces(without South Korea) on the other. And as we all know, this kind of cease-fire led to the unstable nature of the cease-fire status, and South Korea's ambiguous position in all of these matters.