Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
Rethinking Korea's 'jokbo': Writing women back into family history
Speakers applaud before The Korea Times' forum "Korea's Jokbo, Women's Jokbo," which reexamined women's inscription in Korean genealogical records, at the Seoul Global Center in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. From left are The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin; Lee Yong-gyu, honorary chairman of The Roots Society; panelist Kim Yong-im; panelist Koh He-ryung, former chairwoman of The Roots Society; main speaker Mark Peterson, emeritus professor of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University; Director Jang Sang-hoon of the National Folk Museum of Korea; panelist Song Man-oh of Jeonbuk National University; panelist Kim Jeong-woon, country manager of FamilySearch; Suk Min-young, executive director of the Federation of Korean Surnames; and Jung Ho-sung, chief of the Korean Genealogy UNESCO Inscription Promotion Committee. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Park Han-sol
The Korea Times Global Business Club’s 2026 forum, held Tuesday at the Seoul Global Center, took up a subject rarely foregrounded in contemporary debate: “jokbo,” Korea’s traditional genealogical records.
Its theme — “Korea’s Jokbo, Women’s Jokbo: Not just Grandfathers, but Grandmothers too” — had a clear focus and a timely challenge at its heart: How can a system long structured around male lineage be reimagined so that women are fully and meaningfully inscribed into family histories?
“Many people associate the word ‘jokbo’ with something outdated. It can seem like a relic detached from modern life. But I see it differently. The jokbo is not merely a record of the past; it is a living history closely tied to who we are today,” Oh Young-jin, president-publisher of The Korea Times, said in his welcoming remarks.
If genealogies serve as mirrors of the social values and hierarchies of their time, he continued, then important questions follow. Within these records, shaped through a male-centered lens, how have women been represented? And in an era striving toward greater gender equality, how should jokbo evolve?
The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin delivers welcoming remarks at the seminar titled "Korea's Jokbo, Women's Jokbo" at the Seoul Global Center in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
“After the 17th century, as Joseon society became firmly organized around patrilineal kinship, genealogies reflected that shift. For many modern Koreans, jokbo are therefore remembered primarily as a record of the father’s line,” stated Jang Sang-hoon, director of the National Folk Museum of Korea, in his congratulatory address.
“But earlier genealogies documented both paternal and maternal lines on more equal terms. Remembering this reminds us that any change in accordance with the spirit of the times is entirely possible,” he added. “The most important reality that modern genealogies must now embrace is the expanded role of women.”
With that call for renewal, The Korea Times forum moved from historical reflection to future direction.
Director Jang Sang-hoon of the National Folk Museum of Korea delivers a congratulatory address at the seminar titled "Korea's Jokbo, Women's Jokbo" at the Seoul Global Center in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Korean genealogical research stands at a crossroads, said Mark Peterson, emeritus professor at Brigham Young University in Utah and columnist for The Korea Times.
The most widely-known form of traditional jokbo, he noted, reflects a strictly patrilineal structure — a record of “men, related to men, through men.” But contemporary Korea no longer operates within such narrow bounds, leaving the question of how the family history of tomorrow will mirror the society taking shape today.
“Our objective is the ‘palgojodo,’” Peterson explained. “This represents the future of family history research in Korea.”
Palgojodo is a form of genealogy that places the individual at the base and branches upward through both maternal and paternal lines, tracing grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. As a family tree, rather than privileging a single paternal line, it follows eight ancestral lines.
"Its closest Western equivalent is the five-generation pedigree chart," Peterson said.
With increasing access to digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI), the professor added, it is now possible to research more branches of one’s family line, including women previously overlooked, and to build a genealogy that reflects a more balanced understanding of family history.
Mark Peterson, emeritus professor of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University in Utah, speaks during the seminar, "Korea's Jokbo, Women's Jokbo," at the Seoul Global Center in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
The program also featured four additional speakers from diverse professional backgrounds, each united by a conviction that jokbo still have meaning in today’s society.
Kim Jeong-woon, country manager of the nonprofit FamilySearch, gave a personal account of tracing her own ancestry and detailed the moment she realized how frequently women appeared in genealogies without surnames, given names, or both.
To construct a fuller record, she turned to FamilySearch’s collaborative global database, an ever-expanding platform built by users worldwide. It provides resources covering more than 120 surnames and 600 clans in Korea.
Historian Koh He-ryung, formerly of the National Institute of Korean History, traced the evolution of Korea’s genealogical traditions and the shifting status of women within them. As past chairwoman of The Roots Society, she also introduced the group, which was founded in 2004 by descendants of prominent lineages and head families to study ancestral traditions. The society has since undertaken scholarly research on genealogies and published academic papers in the field.
Offering a practitioner’s perspective, Kim Yong-im took the stage to share her experience researching and creating her family’s palgojodo.
Finally, Song Man-oh, professor at Jeonbuk National University, focused on an unconventional genealogical form known as “Samseongbo,” the only surviving example of a lineage traced through three sons-in-law.
It belongs to Choi Bu (1454-1504), a Joseon-era travel writer who left no male heir. In response, his family chose to preserve their lineage through his sons-in-law. Compiled over the course of a decade, the record documents not only the descendants of his daughters but also the paternal and maternal lines of the sons-in-law themselves.
The forum was supported by the Coalition for Our Common Future.