By Mark Peterson
This is No. 8 in my series on the "Top Ten" evidences that Korea has a peaceful and stable history. For most of Korean history the civilians have been in control of the government. This point follows my "No. 7" that I wrote about last week, that Korea has a tradition of the "seonbi," the scholar-official.
I illustrated the contrast to Japan's "samurai" culture, that of the warrior. Today's article will build on last week's where I argued that the tradition of the seonbi contributed to the peaceful and stable history of Korea.
Today's issue is the balance of political control between civilian and military officials, and by balance, I really mean the primacy of civilian over military power. I have to admit that I am breaking one of my own rules: I have said one should not impose a modern standard on a pre-modern situation, specifically one should not judge a dynasty, like the Joseon Kingdom, by the standards of a democratic republic. But in this case, the modern virtue of civilian control of the military, when used as an evaluation tool, makes pre-modern Korea look good. Korea learned its lesson from two areas.
The first was Korea's own experience in the early Goryeo period. There was a rivalry between the civilian officials and the military officials in the government. A civilian official ridiculed a military official and set fire to the general's beard. Big mistake. It occurred on an outing to visit the royal ancestors' tombs. On the next outing, the general had his troops lying in wait, and when the entourage stopped for a rest, the soldiers came sweeping in shouting "death to civilian officials." The military took over but did not remove the king, rather, they manipulated the king, replaced the king, and treated him only as a figurehead. This was in fact what the Japanese did for centuries. The Korean experience lasted only 80-some years.
The general in charge of the revolt was assassinated, and the general who assassinated him was assassinated, and the next general was assassinated till finally the fourth general was able to hold on for a longer period of time. The fourth general's name was Choe and his name is that by which we know this period, the time of the Choe military government. He passed the "kingdom" or rather the control of the kingdom to his son, and then to his son ― like a dynasty. And this is exactly what Japan did; it was called the "bakufu" ― literally, a "tent government" ― the "tent" referring to the curtain behind the emperor where the general sat and told the emperor what to say.
The second lesson that Korea learned was from Chinese history. China was first unified by the Qin military and the famous Qin Shihhuangdi, the "First Emperor of China," a strong military man, but his dynasty did not last long after he died. The military Qin was replaced by the civilian Han dynasty that lasted a long time, 400 years. Later, after a period of disunity with the fall of Han, China was reunited by the military Sui dynasty. But it, too, did not last long but was replaced by a civilian dynasty, the Tang, that had a long reign.
The founder of the Joseon Kingdom, thought a general, was aware of what had happened in China and what had happened in the early Goryeo period. He saw clearly that Joseon needed a military, but he set up the dynasty with primacy in the hands of the civilians.
The role of the civilians and the role of the military were both emphasized in the examinations offered for recruiting officials, to civilian offices and to military offices. There is no question that the civilian exam (the munkwa) was of much, much higher prestige than the military exam (the mukwa). To be sure, however, that the military were not excluded or slighted, half of the 250 counties in Joseon were designated to have a military officer as the county magistrate.
Together, the military officer and the civilian officer together are known as the "yangban" the word often translated for "gentleman." It literally means the "two ranks and files" ― the civilian and the military. Together they led the Joseon dynasty for 500 years of peaceful, stable governing.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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I illustrated the contrast to Japan's "samurai" culture, that of the warrior. Today's article will build on last week's where I argued that the tradition of the seonbi contributed to the peaceful and stable history of Korea.
Today's issue is the balance of political control between civilian and military officials, and by balance, I really mean the primacy of civilian over military power. I have to admit that I am breaking one of my own rules: I have said one should not impose a modern standard on a pre-modern situation, specifically one should not judge a dynasty, like the Joseon Kingdom, by the standards of a democratic republic. But in this case, the modern virtue of civilian control of the military, when used as an evaluation tool, makes pre-modern Korea look good. Korea learned its lesson from two areas.
The first was Korea's own experience in the early Goryeo period. There was a rivalry between the civilian officials and the military officials in the government. A civilian official ridiculed a military official and set fire to the general's beard. Big mistake. It occurred on an outing to visit the royal ancestors' tombs. On the next outing, the general had his troops lying in wait, and when the entourage stopped for a rest, the soldiers came sweeping in shouting "death to civilian officials." The military took over but did not remove the king, rather, they manipulated the king, replaced the king, and treated him only as a figurehead. This was in fact what the Japanese did for centuries. The Korean experience lasted only 80-some years.
The general in charge of the revolt was assassinated, and the general who assassinated him was assassinated, and the next general was assassinated till finally the fourth general was able to hold on for a longer period of time. The fourth general's name was Choe and his name is that by which we know this period, the time of the Choe military government. He passed the "kingdom" or rather the control of the kingdom to his son, and then to his son ― like a dynasty. And this is exactly what Japan did; it was called the "bakufu" ― literally, a "tent government" ― the "tent" referring to the curtain behind the emperor where the general sat and told the emperor what to say.
The second lesson that Korea learned was from Chinese history. China was first unified by the Qin military and the famous Qin Shihhuangdi, the "First Emperor of China," a strong military man, but his dynasty did not last long after he died. The military Qin was replaced by the civilian Han dynasty that lasted a long time, 400 years. Later, after a period of disunity with the fall of Han, China was reunited by the military Sui dynasty. But it, too, did not last long but was replaced by a civilian dynasty, the Tang, that had a long reign.
The founder of the Joseon Kingdom, thought a general, was aware of what had happened in China and what had happened in the early Goryeo period. He saw clearly that Joseon needed a military, but he set up the dynasty with primacy in the hands of the civilians.
The role of the civilians and the role of the military were both emphasized in the examinations offered for recruiting officials, to civilian offices and to military offices. There is no question that the civilian exam (the munkwa) was of much, much higher prestige than the military exam (the mukwa). To be sure, however, that the military were not excluded or slighted, half of the 250 counties in Joseon were designated to have a military officer as the county magistrate.
Together, the military officer and the civilian officer together are known as the "yangban" the word often translated for "gentleman." It literally means the "two ranks and files" ― the civilian and the military. Together they led the Joseon dynasty for 500 years of peaceful, stable governing.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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