[KS] Question about execution sites in the late Joseon capital

Frank Hoffmann hoffmann at koreanstudies.com
Thu Jan 14 11:10:11 EST 2016


... not to forget poisoning, also quite popular as a punishment in late 
Chosŏn, probably limited as punishment to only certain crimes like 
treason. (Can anyone confirm?)
Cannot answer your question whatsoever, just wanted to note that I do 
not think that market places WITHIN SEOUL functioned as execution 
grounds (as in Great Britain or France). That seems to have been the 
case during the Tonghak Uprising for other smaller cities though, from 
what I read many years ago. The Seoul execution grounds were until 1908 
right outside of the old city walls: one was outside the Sŏsomun, as 
you mentioned, the other for political prisoners, higher yangban 
officials, and later foreigners, was (being a spectacle for a 
different, more distinguished crowd) at Saenamtŏ at the shores of the 
Han-gang.

Best,
Frank

On Thu, 14 Jan 2016 09:36:55 +0000 (UTC), Andy Jackson wrote:
> Dear list members, a happy new year to you all. I have a question 
> about execution sites in late Joseon. Can anybody point me in the 
> direction of good articles about the location of execution grounds in 
> the late Joseon capital? I have read that prisoners about to be 
> executed were led through the Little West Gate, but were they 
> executed there or elsewhere? Timothy Brook writes in Death By a 
> Thousand Cuts that market places were traditional execution sites in 
> Qing period Beijing. Did market places have a similar function in 
> late Joseon Korea? Were prisoners destined for dismemberment, 
> decapitation and death by strangulation executed in different sites? 
> Any help list members can give me on this gruesome topic will be 
> gratefully received. 
> Best, Andrew Jackson (University of Copenhagen)

--------------------------------------
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com


More information about the Koreanstudies mailing list