Since Taejo [Yi Seonggye, the founder of Joseon] took over the kingship from the Wang family by military force, there were many valiant commanders from the northwest among the retainers who aided him. However, after he established his government, he ordered that people from the northwest not be appointed to high positions. Download article |…
On 28 April 1884, Britain and Korea exchanged ratifications for the Second British-Korean Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the ‘Parkes’ treaty). With this treaty’s ratification, Britain and Korea created an official diplomatic channel and wrote clearly the first page of British-Korean diplomatic history. However, the Port Hamilton affair (May 1885–Feb 1887), in which the British…
On the fifteenth day of the third month of 1728, rebels led by Yi Injwa seized Ch’ŏngju, marking the start of the Musillan rebellion (also known as Yi Injwa’s rebellion). The rebels controlled areas of Ch’ungch’ŏng, Kyŏngsang and Kyŏnggi provinces for more than a week. However, after these serious losses, government forces rapidly annihilated the…
In the seventh month of 1727, Yŏngjo shocked his entire court by removing the Noron (the Old Doctrine) faction and restoring to power the Soron (the Young Doctrine) faction. What was shocking was that Yŏngjo removed a faction that was loyal to his rule, and restored a faction that had campaigned against him and in…
While studying the political mechanisms of ancient Korea, my research paid particular attention amongst various factors to the bureaucratic systems (官僚制度), government statements by the literati, political meanings of divination rituals and medicine, and attempted to reveal how these were used by the ruling class in solidifying their power over society. In other words, the…
This essay aims to focus on two tasks: that of collating in one account exactly what sustainable development1 projects are happening in the DPRK energy sector and who is involved in them, and secondly, in light of the DPRK’s call for regional engagement in this area, analysing what the prospects, motivations and implications of such…
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, citizens and non-citizens residing in nation-states are struggling to balance their increasingly fluid sense of belonging in and out of territorial and cultural boundaries. Nation-states strive to address these issues with mixed success. South Korean citizenship has evolved from an exclusive, specifically highly ethnicized and politicized form, to a m……
This article is about love, help and compassion. It provides an account of intergenerational support that goes against the widely publicised and encouraged practice and understanding of filial piety (Sung Kyu-taik, 2005); it goes against the image of the elderly as a dependent, passive generation waiting to be helped; and finally it calls for a…
This study analyses the perceptions of Western civilization found in modern newspapers during the period 1880–1910, while also tracing the flow of the relevant literary modes of expression. More specifically, it focuses on the Tongnip sinmun (獨立新聞 ‘The Independent’) and Taehan maeil sinbo (大韓每日申報 ‘Korean Daily News’). Various debates and discussions have been carried out…
The Haeyuga (海遊歌) is a rather lengthy travel kasa written by Kim Hanhong (1877–1943) during the Enlightenment era. This work, believed to have been compiled in or around 1908, was first introduced to scholars by Professor Pak Nojun in 1991. The areas covered by the author during his six-year trip are not limited to Korea,…