The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Guide to Chuseok celebrations across Korea

  • 3

    Court rejects arrest warrant for opposition leader Lee over corruption charges

  • 5

    Korea sees record-low births in July

  • 7

    Royal palaces in Seoul offer free access during Chuseok holiday

  • 9

    Hyundai E&C to build upmarket apartment complex in Seoul's Gwanak District

  • 11

    Korea on track to prove esports prowess at Asian Games

  • 13

    Lotte focuses on health care, mobility to spur growth

  • 15

    Teen swimmer Lee Eun-ji shrugs off freak injury to end quarter-century drought in pool

  • 17

    Top prosecutor vows to seek due punishment for Lee through further probe

  • 19

    Samsung SDI to spend $1.97 bil. on 2nd joint US battery plant with Stellantis

  • 2

    Chuseok exodus begins ahead of extended 6-day holiday

  • 4

    INTERVIEWWith '30 Days,' Kang Ha-neul finds new level of comfort in acting

  • 6

    N. Korea decides to expel US soldier Travis King over border crossing

  • 8

    Political battle intensifies after court rejects Lee's arrest warrant

  • 10

    DMZ Open Int'l Music Festival to be held in Goyang in November

  • 12

    Two Koreas trade barbs over nuclear war

  • 14

    Defense ministry launches project to find families of unidentified fallen Korean War soldiers

  • 16

    DPK hails court's rejection of Lee's arrest, demands Yoon's apology

  • 18

    Finance minister expects Korea's exports to rebound as early as October

  • 20

    Travis King in US custody after expulsion by N. Korea: Washington officials

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Fri, September 29, 2023 | 03:04
Mark Peterson
'Our family is different from other families'
Posted : 2019-01-21 17:16
Updated : 2019-01-25 15:02
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Mark Peterson

Some years ago, in my study of Korean history and culture, I came upon a document that was revealing on many levels. It was a 1688 will or inheritance document of the Buan Kim family. In the preamble to the document it states they are going to change their procedure of giving property to the next generation.

In the West, inheritance documents are called "wills" or the intention of the property-owning parent generation in giving their property to the next generation. In Korea there is a kind of "will" that is called a "heoyeo mungi," which is translated as a "documentation of a gift" or a special allocation of property while the owner is alive. But most divisions of property occur after the parents die and is determined by the next generation, not the parent generation.

Such documents are called "dongsaeng hwahoe mungi" or literally "a document of the peacefully assembled siblings." The purpose of the document is like that of the "will" in the West, but it is the siblings who decided which piece of property and which slave would go to which of the siblings. It's interesting that the title includes the idea of "peacefully assembly" to make the decisions. Peacefully! One can imagine siblings fighting over an item of property: "Father, said he was going to give this to me!" argued by two siblings each saying it was promised to him or her.

The legal basis for the documents was set forth in the Gyeongguk Daejeon, the constitutional law code of the Joseon Kingdom. Therein it said property was to be divided equally between siblings regardless of gender or birth order. This, of course, changed in the late Joseon period when orthodox Confucianism took over and property went to the eldest son to the near exclusion of younger siblings and the total exclusion of the daughters. The number of these inheritance documents are very few in the 15th century, quite a few in the 16th century, an abundance in the 17th century, and next to none from the 18th century and none at all in the 19th century. This, showing something happened at the end of the 17th century.

That something was the complete Confucianization of the family and society in the 1680s and 1690s. This takeover of the social order by a sweepingly appealing re-interpretation of Confucianism ― what one of my readers calls fundamentalist Confucianism ― changed society at its core, but did so without changing the law. It was custom not law that changed.

It became customary to "divide" the inheritance by no longer giving it all to the eldest son. He could farm out, literally, smaller portions to younger sons for their livelihood, and he as eldest son was responsible for helping younger male siblings, but he was to keep the estate intact. Female siblings were married off to be taken care of by their husbands and their husbands' property. Women would often be given dowries, but they had no claim on the estate or the farmlands and slaves of the parents which now fell into the hands of their eldest brother.

As this change took place, the 1688 document of the Buan Kim family was revealing. It said, "Our family is different from other families, in that, daughters, once married out, will no longer participate in family rituals on a rotational basis. And thus it is our intention that daughters be given only a one-third-sized share of the land and slaves."

Thus it began, the disinheritance of daughters. The rationale, that daughters receive a one-third share was explained that since the ritual texts of Confucianism, the Li Ji and the Chou Li, stated that sons mourn for three years, at the passing of a parent, daughters were to mourn only one year. Thus, they were to be giving a one-third share, meaning one-third the size of the son's share.

The phrasing "our family is different from other families" is revealing. It shows this family, which we see in other documents was an office-holding elite family, was in the vanguard of the change. Once this family, and other elite families stop giving inheritances to their daughters, other families would follow suit. There's no sense giving off your property to daughters when the wives marrying into the family don't come in with a load of property. To preserve "our estate" we need to hold onto our property, thus "we" won't give property to our women folk who leave in marriage.

Thus, "our family is different from other families" shows the beginning of the end for female inheritance rights. Once the ball starts rolling it soon changed every family in Korea, and daughters lost their inheritance rights and rights to separate property ownership.


Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.


 
miguel
wooribank
LG
Top 10 Stories
1Guide to Chuseok celebrations across KoreaGuide to Chuseok celebrations across Korea
2Chuseok exodus begins ahead of extended 6-day holiday Chuseok exodus begins ahead of extended 6-day holiday
3Korea sees record-low births in July Korea sees record-low births in July
4Political battle intensifies after court rejects Lee's arrest warrant Political battle intensifies after court rejects Lee's arrest warrant
5Hyundai E&C to build upmarket apartment complex in Seoul's Gwanak District Hyundai E&C to build upmarket apartment complex in Seoul's Gwanak District
6DMZ Open Int'l Music Festival to be held in Goyang in November DMZ Open Int'l Music Festival to be held in Goyang in November
7Korea on track to prove esports prowess at Asian Games Korea on track to prove esports prowess at Asian Games
8Two Koreas trade barbs over nuclear war Two Koreas trade barbs over nuclear war
9Lotte focuses on health care, mobility to spur growth Lotte focuses on health care, mobility to spur growth
10Defense ministry launches project to find families of unidentified fallen Korean War soldiers Defense ministry launches project to find families of unidentified fallen Korean War soldiers
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] With '30 Days,' Kang Ha-neul finds new level of comfort in acting INTERVIEWWith '30 Days,' Kang Ha-neul finds new level of comfort in acting
2Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene
3[INTERVIEW] ONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince' INTERVIEWONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince'
4Kep1er unveils 'Magic Hour' with fresh perspective on love Kep1er unveils 'Magic Hour' with fresh perspective on love
5K-pop group Kingdom recalls album cover resembling Quran K-pop group Kingdom recalls album cover resembling Quran
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group