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_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.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_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.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

    INTERVIEWINFINITE's Nam Woo-hyun returns after battling with rare cancer

  • 3

    Busan eyes Expo 2035 after losing to Riyadh

  • 5

    December brings mix of action, thriller, romance to small screen

  • 7

    US, S. Korea cast doubt over NK's satellite photos

  • 9

    How can Korea become more migrant-friendly?

  • 11

    Seoul to introduce 'English tutor robots' for young students

  • 13

    Hyundai Motor unveils universal wheel drive system

  • 15

    SPECIAL REPORTKorea should embrace cultural diversity in integrating immigrants

  • 17

    Saudi Expo win puts Korean firms in line for contracts

  • 19

    Airline operating guideline to include mandatory passenger warning against opening plane door

  • 2

    2023 MAMA Awards hits Tokyo Dome with stellar lineup

  • 4

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 6

    Cargo ship submerged off Korea's southwestern coast; no crewmen found

  • 8

    BTS wins 2023 MAMA Award for Worldwide Icon of the Year

  • 10

    As Christmas nears, people feel growing income disparity

  • 12

    Why are major South Korean stocks persistently undervalued?

  • 14

    Jefferies to open Seoul office in January

  • 16

    N. Korea says spy satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon, key US naval base

  • 18

    Economist challenges Yoon's immigration policies

  • 20

    Birthrate might fall below 0.7 in Q4

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
Thu, November 30, 2023 | 13:52
Mark Peterson
A tribute to Prof. Song June-ho
Posted : 2019-09-29 17:26
Updated : 2019-09-29 18:00
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Mark Peterson

Last week I wrote a tribute to the memory of professor Ed Wagner and I wrote of his contribution to Korean Studies and particularly his use of jokbo (genealogies) in his research. Today, I must write a tribute to his colleague and collaborator in Korean historical research, Song June-ho.

Song was a professor at at Jeonbuk National University in Jeonju and for a while after he retired, he had an honorary position at Wonkwang University in Iksan. Like Wagner, Song was a specialist in the social history of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom, and in jokbo, and he worked with Wagner on creating a master index of the 14,607 men who passed the highest civil service exam, the munkwa. And like Wagner, Song knew the historical value of the documents known as jokbo.

Both knew that the popular views of jokbo as "compromised," "inaccurate" "falsified" were not a correct interpretation of the documents. He knew this because he used a jokbo like any other historical document ― data therefrom had to be cross-checked and verified. He used the jokbo really not as a primary resource, but as a secondary resource to supplement the study of the munkwa ― the primary focus of the two professors.

There are several kinds of documents a historian of Joseon will use. There is the sillok (the Royal Annals of the Dynasty ― the Joseon Wangjo Sillok), munjip (collections of writings of prominent scholar-officials), pangmok (rosters of those who passed exams in any given year), jokbo (published lineage genealogies) and an array of other government- and privately produced documents.

There are two main factors that counter those who say jokbo are inaccurate and not to be used: 1) The falsifications, mainly purchasing entrance into a genealogy, are a product of the 20th century. If there were false entries in a jokbo, they were only alleged to have happened with modernization in the 20th century. Therefore, documents produced in the 19th century and earlier are prima facia free from falsification. And 2) Facts drawn from a jokbo can be verified and cross-checked in other documents.

The majority of scholars before Song's time ignored jokbo as a resource ― citing the exaggerated claims of "buy-ins" and other fraudulent action. And thus the majority of historians missed a great opportunity to enrich their writings by examining the kinds of marriage ties and kinship ties that bind people together. Song's diligence in cross-checking data from jokbo with other historical sources proved the validity of using jokbo as a historical source document.

The kinds of inaccuracies that Song found, and every document will contain inaccuracies ― that doesn't mean you throw out the whole category of document, which is what most historians did before Song and Wagner proved the documents were valuable and reliable ― were of the nature of slight exaggeration. For example, a jokbo might say a man passed the munkwa exam. Well, that can be verified, and at times they found that a man had not passed the exam. But they found he had passed the sama exam, or the saengwon or jinsa exam. He had passed one of the lesser exams, and the jokbo simply said he passed the exam!

One of the most valuable insights into Korea history from the jokbo is that the jokbo serves as a kind of snapshot of society at that time, at the time of the person being recorded. And as such we see that early Joseon was very different from middle Joseon which was very different from late Joseon. Early Joseon was typically "bilateral," meaning kinship on the mother's and father's sides was equally important. In middle Joseon, things are in flux. And in late Joseon, 18th and 19th century, Korea saw the development of a thoroughly comprehensive patrilineal (male-dominated) system, called in Korean the "bugye" system. "Bu" means "father" and "gye" means "line" ― reckoning of family and relationships from the perspective of the male line. Thus jokbo of the late Joseon and 20th century were documents of "men, related to men, through men" ― the definition of a patrilineal system. In early Joseon, relatives from both sides of the family were recognized: sometimes called a cognatic system, and sometimes called a bilateral system, where descendants of daughters would also be recorded and children were recorded in birth order ― not sons first and daughters last. Jokbo of each time period are snapshots of that period of time.

Thanks be to Song and Wagner and their innovative use of documents to reveal the true nature of Korean history. And that jokbo can play a valuable role in historical research and writing.


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


 
wooribank
LG group
Top 10 Stories
1Busan eyes Expo 2035 after losing to Riyadh Busan eyes Expo 2035 after losing to Riyadh
2US, S. Korea cast doubt over NK's satellite photos US, S. Korea cast doubt over NK's satellite photos
3[SPECIAL REPORT] Korea should embrace cultural diversity in integrating immigrants SPECIAL REPORTKorea should embrace cultural diversity in integrating immigrants
4Saudi Expo win puts Korean firms in line for contracts Saudi Expo win puts Korean firms in line for contracts
5Birthrate might fall below 0.7 in Q4 Birthrate might fall below 0.7 in Q4
6Busan citizens disappointed but ready for World Expo 2035 bid Busan citizens disappointed but ready for World Expo 2035 bid
7Chanel, Hermes, Nike rectify customer policies after FTC warning Chanel, Hermes, Nike rectify customer policies after FTC warning
8Samsung Electronics appoints younger figures in personnel reshuffle Samsung Electronics appoints younger figures in personnel reshuffle
9Journey into Tomorrow: Commemorating 140 years of Korean-German diplomatic relations Journey into Tomorrow: Commemorating 140 years of Korean-German diplomatic relations
10Over 1,000 accountants enter market every year; does Korea need more? Over 1,000 accountants enter market every year; does Korea need more?
Top 5 Entertainment News
1December brings mix of action, thriller, romance to small screen December brings mix of action, thriller, romance to small screen
2[INTERVIEW] ASTRO members aim to shine in musical theater INTERVIEWASTRO members aim to shine in musical theater
3[INTERVIEW] INFINITE's Nam Woo-hyun returns after battling with rare cancer INTERVIEWINFINITE's Nam Woo-hyun returns after battling with rare cancer
42023 MAMA Awards hits Tokyo Dome with stellar lineup2023 MAMA Awards hits Tokyo Dome with stellar lineup
5NMIXX to showcase unique allure with 'Fe3O4: BREAK' album next year NMIXX to showcase unique allure with 'Fe3O4: BREAK' album next year
DARKROOM
  • It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

    2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

  • Appreciation of autumn colors

    Appreciation of autumn colors

  • Our children deserve better

    Our children deserve better

  • Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

    Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

  • 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