[KS] Re: Choson Annals (26): Yangban Evaded Military Service

Yong-Ho Choe choeyh at hawaii.edu
Fri Jul 31 16:53:19 EDT 1998


=09The issue of who should serve in the military during the Choson
dynasty was a very complex matter that heaped tons of headache to the
government.
=09Theoretically, all male adults with commoner and higher status
were required to serve, and only the government officials and bona fide
Confucian students enrolled in schools were exempted.  Understandably,
many enrolled in schools to avoid military servicce, often reducing
schools as a favorite place to dodge military obligations.  In order to
minimize such an abuse, students were tested periodically on their
understanding of and commitment to the Confucian classics, and those who
failed these tests were sent to serve military regarless of their family
background.
=09Then in the early 17th century during the reign of King Injo,
after the Hideyoshi invasion, there took place a big debate in the
government on the question of forcing those students who failed the school
tests to bear military duties.  After fierce debates, those who advocated
giving military service exemption to sons of yangban families won, and
thereafter if one was born of a yangban family, he was no longer obliged
to serve military even if he failed the periodic school tests.  During the
debate, one high official went even so far as to say to the king that "You
may risk losing the support of the people's heart, but you should never
lose support of the scholars (Minsim kasil; sasim pulkasil)."=20
=09After the Hideyoshi and the Manchu invasions, military service
became extremely degrading obligation, and a new system was adopted
whereby one could fulfill his military obligations by paying tax in the
form of cloth, in lieu of actual duty.  This military tax system soon=20
became abused imposing crushing burden upon many commoners.  Then in 1871,
the Taewongun revised the military tax, requring the yangban families to
share the burden as well.
=09The issue of who should bear military duty was an extremely
important one that had serious political, social, and economic
implications throughout the Choson dynasty.  One can almost say that
whehter one was a yangban or not may be determined by whether one bore
military duty or not.  (As a footnote to this, college students were
deferred from military service even during the Korean War.) =20

Yong-ho Choe, Professor
Department of History
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii  96822
Tel: (808) 956-6762
FAX: (808) 956-9600

On Thu, 30 Jul 1998, Frank M. Tedesco wrote:

> >               [Click Into the Hermit Kingdom (26)]
> >               Yangban Evaded Military Service              [Image] [Ima=
ge]
> >               [Image]
> >               07/27(=BF=F9) 14:53
> >=20
> >               By Yang Sung-jin
> >=20
> >               Staff Reporter
> >=20
> >               The prosecution wrapped up its month-long investigation i=
nto
> >               a massive conscription scandal masterminded by Warrant
> >               Officer Won Yong-su last Thursday. The probe led to the
> >               conviction of 117 of Won's clients on bribery charges.
> >               Disappointingly, about 90 percent of the bribe-givers wer=
e
> >               rich and powerful, lending credence to the widespread rum=
or
> >               that only the have-nots shoulder the burden of completing=
 the
> >               26-month-long military service.
> >=20
> >               During the Choson Dynasty, corrupt practices surrounding =
the
> >               compulsory military service were just as bad as they are
> >               today. The primary reason, of course, was that it was a
> >               painful burden to serve as a soldier.
> >=20
> >               Anyone from 16 to 60 could be required to defend the nati=
on
> >               by serving in the military and the government offered no
> >               payment to servicemen. Worse, draftees were required to
> >               prepare weapons and military attire at their own expense =
in
> >               order to avoid punishment.
> >=20
> >               In the Annals of the Choson Dynasty, a document dated in =
1657
> >               states that, ``If a soldier's military equipment is not
> >               well-kept or his attire is not
> >=20
> >               clean, his supervisors may slap the soldier in question
> >               immediately. That is why some draftees sell their cows,
> >               horses, or even rice paddies to procure proper military
> >               equipment.''
> >=20
> >               Officially, even the yangban class was required to serve =
in
> >               the military. Units such as ``kap-sa,'' ``pyolsi-wi,''
> >               ``naekum-wi'' were set up for these members of the upper
> >               class. In a stratified society where inborn privilege was
> >               regarded highly, this kind of special treatment for those
> >               yangban willing to pick up the sword was more than
> >               understandable. So, these selected yangbans, though their
> >               number as a proportion of the whole army was negligible, =
were
> >               given the titles of public officials in the military.
> >=20
> >               The universal law of the earlier Choson period, which
> >               dictated that all citizens had to fulfill their military
> >               duty, had exceptions. Notably, the Confucian principles o=
f
> >               filial piety and chastity became a yardstick for deciding
> >               legitimate military exemptions.
> >=20
> >               For instance, those who had disabled parents were exclude=
d
> >               from military service so that they could fulfill their fi=
lial
> >               duties, a norm vigorously championed throughout the Choso=
n
> >               Dynasty. And if parents were older than 70, one of their =
sons
> >               eligible for conscription was exempted so that he could t=
ake
> >               care of them.
> >=20
> >               Confucian Ticket to Exemption
> >=20
> >               Cho Tok-rin was exempted from military service in 1398. H=
is
> >               mother, widowed at 19, refused to re-marry and remained
> >               single for some 60 years. The government honored her devo=
tion
> >               by saving her son from military duty.
> >=20
> >               Buddhist monks were also entitled to exemption from milit=
ary
> >               service. In 1482, official Lee Koh reported to the king:
> >               ``Commoners are excluded from military duty only when the=
y
> >               reach the age of 60. But monk candidates have to work for
> >               government construction projects only 20 days to get a
> >               Buddhist monk's license, which gives them lifetime
> >               exemptions. This is very unfair.''
> >=20
> >               Interestingly, hawk hunters were criticized as draft dodg=
ers
> >               in 1420. This group of people, called ``sipachi,'' always
> >               closely followed the king on a hawk hunt. Therefore, they
> >               were freed not only from the necessity of serving in the
> >               military, but also from other miscellaneous duties. Later=
,
> >               those who wanted to evade the draft increasingly gained t=
he
> >               status of special hawk hunters. As a result, some sipachi
> >               lacked the basic skills to deal effectively with hawks.
> >=20
> >               After being briefed on this corrupt practice, King Sejong
> >               ordered each province to more strictly enforce the
> >               qualifications of the sipachi sent to the palace and to i=
ssue
> >               licenses in order to eliminate this practice. The Annals =
say
> >               that the king's move uncovered hundreds of fake sipachi.
> >=20
> >               A riskier way of escaping military service compared with =
the
> >               hawk hunting subterfuge was to take on the job of capturi=
ng
> >               tigers. In 1680, the city of Onsong's governor Yun Yi fil=
ed
> >               an appeal to the king: ``The northern Yukchin frontline a=
rea
> >               has long suffered from tiger attacks. The reason seems to=
 lie
> >               with the absence of a law awarding those who capture tige=
rs.
> >               Commoners who seize tigers should be exempted from their
> >               military duty and yangban literati who achieve the same f=
eat
> >               should be appointed as local military chieftains.''
> >=20
> >               The military conscription system began to come apart at t=
he
> >               seams despite government-initiated efforts to maintain it=
=2E
> >               Particularly in the second half of the Choson Dynasty,
> >               military conscription was not so much about ``honorable''
> >               national defense as it was concerned with ``shameful''
> >               national taxation.
> >=20
> >               The underlying reason for this was that the yangban class
> >               began to refuse outright to complete their military dutie=
s.
> >               Originally, only incumbent government officials, Sunkyunk=
wan
> >               students and retired high-ranking government officials we=
re
> >               exempt. But as the order of the class society disintegrat=
ed,
> >               some wealthy commoners bought yangban identifications in
> >               order to evade military service and the number of self-st=
yled
> >               yangban claiming the right to exemption skyrocketed.
> >=20
> >               Oh-So-Honorable Yangban
> >=20
> >               Even in the earlier period, there was an exemption-buying
> >               practice called ``tae-rip,'' which simply means paying
> >               somebody else to do the job. It started with the wealthy
> >               merchants who did not want their military duties to inter=
fere
> >               with their businesses. Later, high-ranking officials in
> >               charge of recruitment saw a potential cash cow in the
> >               practice and openly asked for a portion of the money as a
> >               condition to keep mum about the illegal act.
> >=20
> >               As a result, a group of brokers specializing in providing
> >               ``substitute soldiers'' sprang up, causing the corrupt
> >               practice to mushroom further. On the other hand, in remot=
e
> >               local areas, military exemptions in return for money in t=
he
> >               name of a ``military tax'' were widespread, thus shaking =
up
> >               the conscription system.
> >=20
> >               Eventually, the government used the compulsory military
> >               system as a way to raise tax revenues, not as a means to
> >               maintain its national defense. Of course, the yangban cla=
ss
> >               was safely exempted from this tax, as well.
> >=20
> >               In 1824, minister Shim Sang-kyu filed a long appeal to th=
e
> >               king concerning the deplorable draft-related corruption:
> >               ``Most of the so-called wealthy and clever are dodging th=
eir
> >               military duties. People are citing all sorts of excuses
> >               related to their employment at government office or trans=
port
> >               stations or their enrollment in private schools, as long =
as
> >               they can escape from conscription. Only the poorest are
> >               chosen for service, and they also have to bear the burden=
 of
> >               the military tax.''
> >=20
> >               The result of the government's change in priorities was
> >               devastating. Government officials levied the military tax
> >               upon powerless commoners in order to add to their own wea=
lth,
> >               thus deepening the corruption.
> >=20
> >               In 1797, ``Pibyonsa'' (the Border Defense Council) report=
ed
> >               to the king: ``These days, people are increasingly making
> >               efforts to avoid military duty and tax. Some falsify thei=
r
> >               ages, and some of them forge documents so that they are
> >               classified as dead.''
> >=20
> >               Even the dead were counted for the taxation, however.
> >               Moreover, children were also classified as eligible for t=
he
> >               military duty as the officials tried to squeeze more mone=
y
> >               out of the commoners.
> >=20
> >               With regard to the military tax, if one failed to pay his
> >               due, other family members had to pay instead. If there wa=
s no
> >               one left in the family, relatives or neighbors had to bea=
r
> >               the burden, which often generated a large-scale migration=
 of
> >               people in search of a safer place.
> >=20
> >               While the commoners suffered from both the obligation to
> >               fulfill their military duty and heavy taxation, the yangb=
an
> >               class fervently refused to share the burden.
> >=20
> >               It was only in 1871 that the yangban was officially requi=
red
> >               by law to pay the military tax along with the commoners, =
a
> >               belated fence-mending gesture by the government.
> >=20
> >               One other belated fence-mending gesture occurred last Mon=
day,
> >               when the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) proposed =
a
> >               new law which would award draftees and punish draft dodge=
rs.
> >               Yes, it is the very MMA in which Warrant Officer Won Yong=
-su
> >               served while brokering draft exemptions for the rich and
> >               powerful over the past 10 years.
> >=20
> >            ------------------------------------------------------------=
--------
> >                            (C) COPYRIGHT 1998 THE HANKOOKILBO
> Http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/14_6/9807/t4651329.htm
>=20



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