KJC Korea
Journal Central

This paper explores the original texts and compilation of Samguksagi Kimyusin-Yeoljeon(金庾信列傳) and the timing and intention behind Kimyusin-Haengrok(金庾信行錄)’s compilation. To compose the basic structure of Kimyusin-Yeoljeon, the editors of Samguksagi reprinted or made excerpts from Kimyusin-Haengrok which was written by Kim Jangcheong. In addition, they supplemented the records about Kim Yusin and his ancestors, which were found in Sillabongi(新羅本紀), Garakgukgi(駕洛國記), Gaehwangryeok(開皇曆), Kim Yusin’s epitaph(金庾信碑), and Gogi(古記), to Kimyusin-Yeoljeon. The authors also added the biography of Kim Yusin’s sons and descendants, Wonsul(元述), Yunjung(允中), Kim Am(金巖), to Kimyusin-Yeoljeon by referring to the passed down records describing their lives. At last, they finished Kimyusin-Yeoljeon by presenting the different transcriptions of names, additional explanations, or a historical commentary praising Kim Yusin’s work. Kim Jangcheong authored Kimyusin-Haengrok during the reign of King Kyeongmun or King Heongang. In his book, he made a farfetched guess that the office position of Kim Yusin’s father and grandfather changed in Chinese style, and rewrote the geographical names with the names changed during the reign of King Kyeongdeok. In addition, in writing his book he referred to the various sources which were the records that contained revised geographical names and terms and written after the Middle Period of the Silla Dynasty, such as Hwarangsegi(花郞世記). Kim Jangcheong did not write Kimyusin-Haengrok based on the Confucian rationalist view, which means that he generally did not rewrite or exclude the contents from its original texts, even the supernatural ones. Kim Jangcheong intended to enhance the political status of Kim Yusin’s descendants who were heading for the downfall in the Late Silla Period by his completion of Kimyusin-Haengrok, which enshrined Kim Yusin’s devotion to the preservation and well-being of the nation with his supernatural ability and spirit of public service.

This article looked at why wiman joseon was valued in samgukyusa. In wiman joseon section of samgukyusa, the contents of hanseo are abbreviated in a way that highlights wiman joseon. In addition, ilyeon described wiman joseon in a friendly way that did not address the fact that king jun was a descendant of jizi and that jizi had enlightened old joseon society. The reason why ilyeon paid attention to wiman joseon was not only because wiman joseon succeeded the old joseon founded by dangunwanggeom, but also because it was a country closely related to various members of golyeo such as silla, gogulyeo, and buyeo. Wiman joseon, like the old joseon, is a country that has been capitalized in pyungyang and used the name dangunwanggeom as the city name, within samgukyusa, dangunwanggeom is the founder of joseon, and wiman is described as a person who greatly expanded the territory of joseon. It can also be inferred that ilyeon regarded wiman as a person of old joseon who was enshrined in the yan dynasty and he wanted to reveal that wiman was a figure related to our east. Ilyeon wanted to say that through the common ground of yan, silla was a descendant of joseon in blood. An article in which residents of nakrang and daebang surrendered to silla suggested that the residents of joseon had moved to silla. Through the relationship between silla and wiman joseon, ilyeon wanted to suggest that silla was the successor to the old joseon founded by dangunwanggeom, not china. samgukyusa described both buyeo and gogulyeo as having been established in the liaodong area. It can be seen that ilyeon recognized that buyeo and gogulyeo also came from the same area as wiman joseon and silla, given that the liaodong area was part of yan at the zhanguo-shidai period. In samgukyusa, wiman joseon is acting as a link to explain that gogulyeo and silla are both from the old joseon. Through wiman joseon, ilyon wanted to present that dangunwanggeom was the founder of all members of golyeo, thereby lowering the weight of jizi and noting to wiman joseon.

A very new trend of Korean History begins to scrutinize various aspects of administrative realities of the Civil Examination for High Officials (CEHO, in short), for example, how an applicant committed themselves to prepare so as to pass in particular. This paper investigates such detailed realities of CEHO around 17th century through Cho Se-whan case who served his offical life until the early days of King Sookjong reign, after he passed it in A.D. 1657 (8th reigning year of King Hyo-jong). His preparation procedure is contained precisely in his life-long diaries over thiry three years in which comprehensive events, including peddy affairs, can be divided such three categories as his hometown lives, Capital Seoul lives, and his offical logs. He was originally given a pass in the first examination and entitled Saengwon when he was 19 years old, A.D. 1633 (11th reigning year of King Injo). His diaries were transmitted for the present time after he was 33 years old and contained his trial for CEHO over 10 years. Local passers of Saengwon were asked to submit Attendance Record (AR, in short) of Capital Confucian School Restaurant which is one of the differences contrased to Confucian Students or Yu-hak. As passer of Saengwon, Mr. Cho had fine knowledge in depth on Confucian Classics and he was good Argumentative Writing among Composition Subjects. This background was evaluated to pass regular CEHO by every three year rather than to pass another divisions such as Inside Palace Exam or Extraordinary Exam in which no AR was required. The first step towards CEHO asked all applicant to cover over 150 points (more or less half a year attendence, at least) of AR. This is why he went up to Seoul so frequently and then lived at Capital Confucian School as well as near-by villages so as to get the pre-requisite AR sufficiently. He also could apply a division of Confuician Followers in CEHO in addition. He estimated himself that he was superior in Debate Division of Confucian Classics to Composition Division for Memorial Days. He got 2nd rank points and was at last nominated ‘Tam-wha-rang’ in a regular CEHO held in A.D. 1657 (8th reigning year of King Hyo-jong). His daries informed us detailed procedures from the applicant perspective; how he prepared the examinations, the way in which the first step passers, Saengwon and Jinsa, tried to get required AR points in general, Confucian Follower Examination held solely for Capital Confucian School and its correlated pass rate, royal permission for Honorary Pass and so forth. All of these facets reflects the actual realities vividly around 17th century which we could not find any source from Administration Code, Chronological Data and others.

This article examines the changes in the perceptional terrain of the study of Korean modern history by reviewing the flow of the March 1st Movement study, but approaches the process of settlement, refraction, and implosion of the nationalist view. The research on the March 1st Movement began in earnest from 1969, the 50th anniversary of the movement, and while based on the nationalism that prevailed in Korean history academic circles at that time, it was constrained by the anti-communism of the Park Chung-hee regime, and thus tended to be a “conservative nationalism.” In 1989, which celebrated the 70th anniversary of the March 1st Movement, a divergence of research perspectives emerged clearly reflecting the political and ideological spectrum of the 1980s. The mainstream academia was divided into a tendency to adhere to the existing conservative position and a tendency toward a moderate national unity. The junior researchers holding a progressive position showed a tendency to “popular nationalism”, which aimed for a unified perception of national and class contradictions, and emphasized the people with class implications. In the 21st century, research on the trend of “post-nationalism” was prominent. These studies focused on the multi-layered behavior of multiple subjects, moving away from the dichotomy of domination and resistance, and raised values such as democracy, peace, and human rights apart from nationalism. As such, the change in the perspective of the March 1 Movement study from conservative nationalism to popular nationalism and recently post-nationalism shows a shift in the epistemological topography of the study of Korean modern history.

The understanding of Old Joseon in history textbooks of South Korea and North Korea shows commonalities in the foundation, development, and the structure centered around the culture of eight articles on the violation of bans. In quantity, North Korean textbooks deal with Old Joseon much in detail compared to South Korean textbooks and especially with the foundation, the war between Old Joseon and Han, and cultural heritage, etc. in detail, giving much weight to them. Concerning the detailed period and area of the foundation, there are big differences found. North Korean textbooks state that after Tangun founded Old Joseon in the Pyongyang area in the 30th century B.C., he took the entire regions of Northeast China and the Korean peninsula as its domains and that Old Joseon collapsed as Wanggeom-seong, Busudo in the Liaodong region in 108 B.C. was fallen. Meanwhile, South Korean textbooks do not usually write the concrete time and area of foundation and the location of the capital, looking at the northern area of the Korean peninsula in the Daling River basin or Liaodong region as an area related to the basic Old Joseon culture. It seems that there is this difference because North Korean textbooks were written based on Reference for Teaching the History of Joseon. This states that Old Joseon is the country founded first in the world, Pyongyang is a capital with a history of 5,000 years and that students should be able to explain the representative struggle against an aggression by each dynasty. If the scholars of the two countries overcome the differences in their understanding through joint research with a long-term plan, they can overcome the different views on history.