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Identification and Management of Households and Population in Korean Government, 1896-1909

Lee Youjin 1

1연세대학교 법학연구원

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ABSTRACT

In September 1896, the new type of households and population registration system was introduced to the central government to reflect the intention to grasp the whole national population and households as part of the home affairs of a modernized country. However, since the system had a close relationship with the tax administration practice of total taxation and joint payment by an administrative unit, the new household registers were actively utilized to secure tax sources. The central government managed the new household registers across the country based on the administrative system of counties(gun 郡), 13 provinces(do 道), and the Bureau of Publication, Home Office. The increase or decrease in the number of households in each county compared to the previous year was a standard for judging the perfectness of registration and for personnel evaluation of local public officials. The total number of households and individuals referred to the total amount of tax sources of household tax rather than the total number of residents in the region. The county had three kinds of total numbers of households in the area - an ‘official’ number reported to the central government, a number the county identified for local finances, more than the official one, and the number of households de facto -. In tax administration - the practice of total taxation on and joint payment by an administrative unit - the number of individuals and population reported to the central government was not the result of identifying all residents in the area. The central government intended to identify all households and populations in the country by implementing a new household registration system. However, the perceptions and notions of those who operated the system were not much different from the era of the Chosŏn Dynasty. The central government insisted on ‘increasing households and population’ and ‘fair levying of tax’ like before. The ritual devoting the people in the kingdom to the king every three years changed into every year. Despite the rapid changes called modern reforms, the old perceptions and practices persisted at the base.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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