KJC Korea
Journal Central

This paper was prepared to clarify the sea route between Silla and Usan-guk in detail. First, Usanguk was identified as a country founded by some of the Don-Ye(東濊) from the coast of Gangwon-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do in the mid-to-late fifth century after they crossed the sea and settled on Ulleungdo Island. They led essential economic lives through fishing and cultivation and supplied insufficient food and supplies through trade with local forces on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula across the sea. Meanwhile, Silla, which dominated the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, completely changed its rule style over the region from the existing indirect rule to direct rule after the 6th century. Usanguk which was trading with the ruling forces on the east coast, had a conflict with Silla, and as a result, Silla conquered Usanguk in 512 with military forces, and Usanguk surrendered to Silla. After 512, the relationship between Silla and Usanguk can be defined as the relationship between the suzerain and the subordinate country(宗屬關係). Every year, Usanguk dedicated indigenous products to Silla as a tribute and imported and accepted various goods and cultures from Silla. Such intercourse between the two countries took place through the sea route of Silla-Usanguk. The entry and departure point for Silla on this sea route was a port in today's Uljin area, such as Jukbyeon Port(竹邊港) and Gusan Port(邱山港). And the entry and departure point toward Usanguk can be fixed at Hyeonpo Port(玄圃港) in the northern part of Ulleungdo Island.

Hobaldo(胡拔都 Qubatu)'s invasion on Koryŏ northern frontier in King Wu’s reign and Yi Sŏnggye’s victory against it have merely been understood so far as a simple battle between Jurchen aggressor Hobaldo(胡拔都) and patriotic Koryŏ general Yi Sŏnggye. However, in doing so, much more contingent and much more complicated historical context around this historical event, has been almost unexplained. Going beyond the existing nationalist perspective, this paper seeks to rethink Hobaldo(胡拔都)'s invasion in King Wu’s reign and Yi Sŏnggye’s engagement to defeat it, by putting them together with Ming court’s demand to return formal Yuan Liaodong residents previous Koryŏ king Kongmin’s expeditionary forces including Yi Sŏnggye’s warriors have taken from Yuan Tongnyŏng Commandery, Ming Dingliaowei commandery(定遼衛)’s instigation of Liaodong Jurchen forces such as Hobaldo(胡拔都) against Koryŏ, Koryŏ King Wu’s need to be recognized as the legitimate successor of King Kongmin and “tributary” by Ming imperial authority, and Yi Sŏnggye’s tricky position as the powerful warlord of Koryŏ frontier with hybridity his family has obtained by crossing the borders among Koryŏ, Mongol, and Jurchen societies.

Woo-am, the nickname of Song Si-Yeol(1607∼1689), was a scholar and politician lived in Seonjo∼Sookjong reign, the Middle age of Joseon. He was a scholar called Sallim(山林), and the leader of the Public Opinion(公論) A study of an individual is a basis of historical research and it can spread to the sphere of aspect of the age. In this view I descripted the relationship of the school and its policies in court or field focusing the statecraft. Song Si-Yeol was born after the Japanes Invasion, and overcame the 1623 Restoration and the twice Qing invasion. Therefore his generation confronted the national or social tasks to solve. During the King Hyojong∼Sookjong reign, he was recruited as an officer or exiled to areas far from the capital or retired from the court. During the King Heonjong reign, He insisted the reformaton of finance & taxation system, the Tribute & Army Recruit system. In the course of the Gap-In Ritual Dispute, he exiled to JangKi. Especially he tried to reform the Royal Treasury that appropriated the commons of the people. He also required the reformation of the Nobi system that the child of the feminine commoner and the man Nobi got a commoner strata and accomplished it as a law.

Examined in this article are the “remarried females,” who in academic studies were often sidelined by the so-called Yeol’nyeo figures, as they led lives that did not necessarily align with the Confucian atmosphere of the Joseon society. According to previous practices, and sometimes due to social needs, these females either chose to remarry someone or were involuntarily pulled into an unwanted remarriage. In either case, the state’s policy of encouraging female chastity and the Confucian Joseon society’s negative view of them made their lives very difficult. Examination of females who decided to get remarried, both widows and married ones, reveals certain characteristics such as the fact that not only widows but also married ones all chose to remarry, and that many of the remarried females were from the commoner class and below. It is also revealed that while there were indeed remarriages based on mutual consent, there were also many unilaterial, forcible cases in which the females were literally kidnapped(“Bossam”) and coerced to get remarried. This seems like the poor widowers’ brutal, barbaric response to the increasing number of females who were hesitant to get married again. To make matters worse, some people in the society even regarded remarriages as another form of adultery, further complicating the remarried females’ lives. Even when a female got properly remarried they were unfairly treated by their contemporaries, and even females who got remarried after they were abandoned by their husbands were vulnerable to arbitrary lawsuits filed by their ex-husbands. In the meantime, the state only promoted female fidelity and the chastity of Yeol’nyeo figures. The kings ignored some governmental officials’ plead for issuing a state-wide permission for female remarriages, while neither doing anything to ban female remarriages, nor putting an end to violent coersions of the males. Females who refused to be pulled into an unwanted marriage were left alone to risk their lives.

This research examines the political role of court writers of the Interrogation Records at the State Tribunal in late Chosŏn Korea. The court writers were officials temporarily assigned to the State Tribunals, responsible for drawing up interrogation questionnaires, reciting the interrogative documents to the accused and witnesses, and recording testimonies and statements throughout the judicial process. Current literature on the Chosŏn interrogation has not paid due attention to these writers. For a new approach to the Interrogation Records, this research argues that it is imperative to understand the political aspect of the court writers. Studies on Interrogation Records have questioned the validity of the testimonies under duress and examined problems arising from organizing oral testimonies into written statements. In contrast, this research deals with cases in which court writers actively shaped narratives of the testimonies and statements while recording the judicial procedures of the Tribunal. In some cases, the writers were impeached or brought to State Tribunals for fabricating or omitting specific words in the testimonies and statements from the written records. Through these case studies, this research attempts to analyze the political meanings of judicial space in the Chosŏn era and explore methodological considerations on the Interrogation Records.

This paper analyzes the background and contents of the military riot control training in early 1961, and examines the impact of the establishment of the Capital Defense Command after the May 16th coup on the military’s riot control structure. The arguments of this paper are as follows. First, the riot control training that the May 16th coup forces tried to take an advantage of was part of a police-military riot control training jointly organized by Chang Myon government, the U.S. country team, and the UNC. The various U.S. agencies stationed in Korea actually intervened deeply in the response of Chang Myon government to the unification movement, which was also involved in the expansion and reproduction of the ‘March-April crisis’ rumor. This paper argues that the crisis experienced by Chang Myon government was self-inflicted at first, and that the United States was also deeply involved in it. Second, the riot control training of military at the time reflects the military’s riot control structure before the May 16th coup. The meaning of the establishment of the Capital Defense Command after the May 16th coup can be also grasped through a review of the training content. Before the May 16th coup, it was essential to mobilize field divisions to suppress large-scale demonstration. However, after the May 16th coup, the 30th and 33rd Reserve Division and the 1st Airborne Group, which were located near Seoul and had security duties, walked out of the UNC’s operational control, and the establishment of the Capital Defense Command based on the unit allowed the Park Chung-hee administration to have considerable discretion in preventing reverse coups as well as riot control operation.

This paper aims to examine the process, meaning, and period/institutional characteristics of the change from the 1967 Skill Examination System to the 1970s National Technical Qualification System (NTQS). Specifically, it sought to examine how this system was perceived by the government, craftsmen, and companies that are consumers of licenses. Basically, NTQS was designed to enable both horizontal and vertical promotions in the technical field, from technician to engineer, and within technician. However, NTQS prioritized on the rank of engineers over technicians and linked the education level of high school and university graduates, so its attempt to relativize the education system was thus more likely to trigger the motivation to increase one’s educational level. The government, which could not force private firms to give preference to license holders, introduced special exception from the military service, preferential policies for higher education, and government-invested institutions and government-affiliated firms. Among them, the military service exception and preferential admission policy effectively encouraged youth craftsmen, who were subject to inspections at the time, to acquire a technician license. However, calling craftsmen Industrial Engineer in the sense of respecting them did not immediately elevate their social status. Although the government-led policies produced short-term effects, the social culture placing importance on educational level did not easily change as the government’s intent. Unless the work conditions of craftsmen or technicians in production improved and their rights were guaranteed, even if craftsmen were called technicians and they upgraded their skills and technical qualifications, this could not create a society giving preferential treatment to craftsmen. As a result, excellent youth craftsmen who enjoyed special exception from the military service and admissions privileges aimed to obtain a college degree rather than a promotion and did not agree that a skill-preferred society was realized even if an individual was no longer a craftsmen