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The aspects of the Activities of Goseong Righteous voluntary Army (義兵) during the Imjin War

Sin, Yun-Ho 1

1국립진주박물관

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ABSTRACT

During the early period of Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, national defense power of Joseon Dynasty had proved its vulnerability in comparison with strong military strengths of Japan, and the entire territory of Joseon except Honam had fall into the hands of Japanese armed forces within two months. Despite the remarkable differences between the military strengths of Joseon and Japan, the major strengths for Joseon to overcome the invasion had rooted from voluntary civilians troops raised for Justice. It is true that deployment of Ming troops had played an important role in the process but, the nationwide movements of voluntary civilian troops had raised civil armies of tens and thousands soldiers all over the country, and pressurized Japanese military forces through guerilla tactics. One of the great examples of such voluntary civilian forces' acts is the ones of Goseong region. Goseong is located in a costal area, and thus, was exposed to the enemy forces both from the land and the sea. During the early periods of the invasion, rampancy of Japanese army in the region was beyond description. Japanese naval force had invaded from the southern sea, defeated the Gyeongsang Left Wing Naval Army led by Won Gyun, and made its way into Jinhae, Goseong and Sacheon while land force of Japan invaded by land through Changwon, Haman and Jinhae. Japanese commanders those who had occupied Goseong through naval paths were Gamei Korenori and Horinouchi Ujiyoshi. They were among the Japanese forces that had invaded Joseon through the southern sea with fleet of vessels. Movements of voluntary civilians against these invasions were very active and bodacious, and the greatest examples of such movements in Goseong region are the civil troops' actions raised by Choi Gyun, Choi Gang, Lee Dal and An Shin-gab. Their activities area was very broad including Jinju, Sacheon, Jinhae, Changwon and Woongcheon on top of Goseong. For their forms of activities, in particular, roles in logistics and combat activities were assigned on people separatedly, and the troops were managed efficiently. They set their military headquarter in a location safe from enemy forces so that elders, females and children can concentrate on logistic activities such as military procurement while young men including Choi Gang, Lee Dal and An Shin-gab formed combat units and mounted guerilla actions from different locations around the military commanding posts. Choi Gyun was already an aged man at the time. He was a man of great intelligence and possessed great knowledge on military tactics, and therefore, stayed in the headquarter to organize combat strategies and to work on overall management of the troops. 『Ssang Chung Rok (雙忠錄)』(1823) and 『Ssang Chung Sil Gi (雙忠實紀)』(1929), books containing texts and documents left by Choi Gyun and Choi Gang and records of their activities, are the major historical sources to examine voluntary civilian movement in Goseong. Since these are the sources of great significance, a thorough review of their historical accuracy is required. 『Ssang Chung Rok』is a recording of great activities of the brothers Choi Gyun and Choi Gang, and Ssang Chung Sil Gi』is a revised and expanded version of the former. These two books were published 200 years after the invasion, and thus, some contradictions were observed in many aspects including dates and terms. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a through examination in comparison to other sources. Activities of Jo Eung-do and Park Ae-sang, the government officers of Goseong at the time of Jung Yu Jae-ran, and they had died in a navel battle near Geojedo Island. After that, Japanese forces had re-occupied Goseong, and parts of Goseong Town Wall was modified into Japanese fortress. The Goseong Japanese Fortress was first examined by Japanese scholars during the Japanese colonial era. Currently, small parts of the fortress wall are still remaining since most parts of the fortress were demolished and replaced with private residential houses.

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