Opinion - The Korea Times

Legacy of Prof. Ed Wagner

By Mark PetersonIn writing of late in this column, which I call the “Frog Outside the Well,” I have touched on the subject of Korean jokbo (genealogies) a few times. I have had feedback from this column and from my YouTube channel that Korean jokbo are unreliable in that commoners and slaves have bought their way into established genealogies.This calls for looking at the work of Professor Ed Wagner who was the first to get a degree in Korean history in America and who taught for his whole career at Harvard University. Indeed, he is called the “Father of Korean Studies” in America.Perhaps he is best-known in Korea for his expertise in Korean jokbo. Indeed, he was one of the first to use jokbo as a historical resource at a time when Korean scholars, for the most part, ignored jokbo and decried their inaccuracy and worth as reliable historical documents. But Wagner showed quite convincingly that, like any other source document, it could be cross-checked and evaluated, case-by-case, as to the accuracy and the worth of the document. And he found that jokbo were ver

Sep 22, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

More on eunuchs

By Mark PetersonA few weeks ago I wrote of my visit in 1977 to the last living eunuch in Korea and I wrote of his jokbo (genealogical book) and how it showed adopted eunuch children retained their natal family surname. The article stirred some interest among our readers and as a result, several questions came to me and I received several requests to write more about eunuchs.One reader commented on a house that still stands in Seoul that was described as a eunuch's house. That reader, Jacco Zwetsloot, showed me the house tucked in behind the Japanese embassy, near Gyeongbok Palace. We walked around the outside; it appeared empty and deserted. There were two shops on the street side that had been remodeled to appear new. But to get a good look at the house we were able to go into the high-rise building next to it, and look down on it and even take a photograph. It didn't look to me like a eunuch's home, from what I have read about eunuch's homes.The thing that I have read is that eunuch homes had several inner gates leading to a protected inner courtyard where the eunuch's wife and chi

Aug 25, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

UNESCO and 'jokbo'

By Mark PetersonLast time I wrote about the conference I attended in Andong on “naebang kasa” and the desire of the participants to apply for UNESCO Memory of the World recognition. At the conference, quite unexpectedly, I ran into the head of the Gyeongju Choe lineage, a man who lives in Gyeongju. Although Gyeongju and Andong are quite far apart, they are both in conservative, most-Confucian North Gyeongsang Province. And the programs at the Academy for the Advancement of Korean Studies attracts people from all over the province. Still, I was surprised to see Mr. Choe there.He came up to me during the break and said he was attending the conference, not because he was particularly interested in naebang kasa, but that he was interested in seeing me! He said he had an idea to discuss with me: Should we begin to pursue UNESCO Memory of the World recognition for Korean jokbo?His proposal took my breath away. I hadn't thought of the idea, but immediately I thought, yes, yes, yes! That's exactly what we should do!Korea, arguably ― and I think we can prove this statistically ― h

Aug 14, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

'Destroyed' surnames

By Mark PetersonAs a contrast to the names that have survived in Korea for 1,500 years and more, there were names that did not survive. I've been writing about how remarkable, and even unusual, the Korean surname situation is ― specifically, the concentration of just a few surnames. Five surnames ― Kim, Yi (Lee), Pak, Choe and Jeong (Chung, Jung) ― make up 55 percent of Korea's population. I have previously emphasized how unusual this is and how it is one of the solid evidences that Korean history has been marked by stability and peace.However, there have been some exceptions. There are surnames that have not survived. But this fact does not contradict the thesis (that Korean history should be seen as remarkably peaceful, and should not be characterized as war-torn and unstable), but rather, the “destroyed” surnames illustrate the thesis.I have offered before that the Kims of the Gaya Kingdom survived very well in the Silla Kingdom after the Silla took over Gaya. Kim Yu-sin, the great general of the unification of Silla who conquered Baekje and Goguryeo, was a grandson of

Jul 28, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Last eunuch's surname

By Mark PetersonWhen I was a student in Korea in 1977 I met a man introduced to me as the last living eunuch from the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom. At that point, I understood there was one other living eunuch as well, but the man I met was in his 60s and he had become a eunuch and was a young child in the last-gasp years of Joseon before 1910.I met him and his wife at his home on the outskirts of Seoul in a rural area at the foot of a hillside that climbed upward behind his home. He seemed in good health but complained of back pain.I'm thinking of him now in this series of articles I've been writing here on Korean surnames, because the thing that struck me most about meeting a living eunuch was the revelation about his family and ancestors. He had left his natal home ― usually there is a payment involved ― or in blunt terms, he had been sold into the eunuch home ― but he had not left his surname behind. He was adopted to his eunuch father and he succeeded a long line genealogically, so to speak, of eunuch ancestors.Point number one: Eunuchs lived in families consisting of a eunuch with

Jul 17, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

The lesser surnames

By Mark PetersonThe previous two installments in my “Frog Outside the Well” series have been about the dominance of the surnames Kim, Lee and Park. Today I want to look at the lesser names, the obscure names of Korea.Korean genealogical specialists write about the “great surnames,” the middle-sized surname groups, and the obscure or small-clan surname groups. There is a tendency toward prizing the larger family groups ― after all, Kim, Lee and Park were all royal names, literally, the names of kings in Korea's past. And there tends to be a devaluing of the lesser clans. The clans in the middle are recognized as worthy members of the nation, but the small clans are sometimes demeaned.There is a thing called the “seven low-class names” or the “10 low-class names”. Here “low-class” is my translation of “sangnom,” a word that was used more commonly when I first came to Korea, but now is almost a swear word or forbidden word. The list is of these so-called low-class names and they are often despised or at least snicke

Jul 7, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Prominent surnames

By Mark PetersonRecently I wrote about the fact that Korea is very unusual, even odd, I would say, in that 21 percent of the people have one surname ― Kim. And it adds to the oddity that Yi comprises 15 percent of the population and Pak 9 percent. I pointed out that no other country has such a concentration of surnames. Today's question is: How did the aristocratic families of Silla and then Goryeo maintain their status through the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom?Before we look at the “answer,” let me take a moment to again emphasize how unusual Korea is. No other country has 45 percent of its population holding one of three surnames. The most common name in Japan is Sato: 1.5 percent of the population. There are several names that represent about 1 percent of the population ― these include Tanaka, Takashima and Saito. In America, the most common surname is Smith ― with about 1.5 percent of the population. In Germany the most common surname is Mueller ― 0.8 percent. In Spain, Garcia ― 3.5 percent. India, Singh ― 2.7 percent. China is a bit of an exception ― Wang is the most comm

Jun 30, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Revival of rural economy

By Mark PetersonI wrote in November of a trip to visit a traditional village in the rural countryside. I was quite pessimistic and titled my article, “Death of Korea's Villages.” Today I'm going to write about the opposite phenomenon. I recently visited Wando and Gangjin on the south coast of Korea to find they are thriving rural communities.What was the difference? Aquaculture. Farming at sea.I was guided around Wando and Gangjin by a man who has helped develop aquaculture in the area, Dr. Yi Young-ho. He has a Ph.D. in fisheries science from Pusan Fisheries University, but his high school was in his hometown of Wando, The Wando Fisheries High School. He has worked in the state-run fisheries advisory agencies and set up several research stations in the area. But his most influential work was as a National Assemblyman, in the 17th National Assembly at the time of Roh Moo-hyun.As we visited various research centers, farmers' advisory centers, and aquafarms, I was surprised how everybody knew him and greeted him so cheerfully and with obvious appreciation. For example we vi

Jun 18, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korean surnames

Korean surnames, evidence of stable historyBy Mark Peterson Korean family names are unlike those of any other country. First, there are so few. Roughly 250, traditionally. In recent years there is a scattering of new names, mainly of immigrants, some from China and some from other countries. But traditionally, there were only around 250; compare this with Japan ― over 10,000 surnames.Germany, the United States, and many other countries have thousands of surnames. But Korea has only 250. Why? That is the question. What is the reason there are so few surnames in Korea?A related question is why are so many people named Kim? The answer, 21 percent, becomes a new question ― why such a high percentage? And the same question for Lee (Yi, Rhee) at 15 percent and Pak (Park, Bak) at 9 percent. The problem in Korea is that no one sees this as a question! It's just assumed that three surnames take in 45 percent of the population and that is normal. Well, it's normal for Korea, but it is absolutely odd for every other country on the planet. The only cultural saying about these three surnames is t

Jun 11, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korean folktales as protest literature

By Mark PetersonLast time I wrote about the Heungbujeon ― the story of Heungbu, also called the story of Heungbu and Nolbu. My point was that the story was written at a point when younger sons (like Heungbu) were being disinherited and the eldest son (like Nolbu) were taking control of all the property of the parents' generation. I presented my thesis that the story is really a form of protest literature, giving voice to the disenfranchised and pointing out that the newly emerging changes in inheritance practice were unfair to the sons who were not the eldest. This is one of the themes of my “frog outside the well” analysis of the greatly misunderstood Confucianization of Korea.Today, I'd like to extend that discussion to other literature that I think is also protest literature. There are three great so-called pansori stories in Korean culture. The story of Heungbu is one; the other two are the story of Chunhyang and the story of Sim Cheong. Collectively, they are not only the best-known pre-modern stories, originating as pansori performances before they were committed to

May 26, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Read more

Legacy of Prof. Ed Wagner

More on eunuchs

UNESCO and 'jokbo'

'Destroyed' surnames

Last eunuch's surname

The lesser surnames

Prominent surnames

Revival of rural economy

Korean surnames

Korean folktales as protest literature

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