• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.54
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• pp.9-42
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• 2017

It is as necessary as ever to make constant efforts to overcome the regional strife between the eastern and western parts of Korea and come to a mutual understanding. To achieve this, we must endeavor to correct Korean people's distorted understanding of the history of Korean philosophical thoughts. Ordinary Koreans commonly and mistakenly associate the academic circles of Korean Neo-Confucianism with certain regions by which to divide them into Giho School and Yongnam School and then go as far as associating the schools and parties and pegging them 'Namin'(南人) to refer to as the followers of Yongnam School and 'Seoin'(西人) as the followers of Giho School. Such false notions must be corrected. During the reign of King Seonjo, political factions of Joseon were split into Yongnam and Giho, or East and West. At the time, the two cardinal directions East and West were only used to refer to the eastern and western parts of Seoul, and not Yeongnam(East) and Giho(West) of the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, the factional split at the time has nothing to do with regional cleavages. In fact, a majority of scholars representing Korean Neo-Confucianism maintained a friendly relationship regardless of the school, party, and region. Many leading scholars in the middle of the Joseon Dynasty namely Jo Sik(曺植)/Seong Woon(成運), Lee Hwang(李滉)/Ki DeaSeung(奇大升), Lee Hwang(李滉)/Lee Yi(李珥), Noh Susin (盧守愼)/Lee Yi, the ones in the late Joseon Dynasty -Jeong Gyeong Se(鄭經 世)/Kim Jang-Saeng(金長生), Jeong Gyeong Se(鄭經世)/Song Joon Gil(宋浚吉), and also those at the end of the Joseon Dynasty such as Kwak JongSeok(郭鍾錫) and Kim BokHan(金福漢) deeply respected each other and had a close friendship rooted in their academic commitment. The friendship between the leaders of Giho and Yongnam is a testimony to the high level of their character, academic achievement, and intellect. More than ever, such intangible intellectual and cultural resources drawn from Korean tradition must be utilized to the fullest. From this point on, we need to further promote the friendship and mutual understanding the scholars of Yongnam(Gyeongsang-do), Gyeonggi, Honam (Jeolla-do), and Hoseo(Chungcheong-do) enjoyed, and use them as a cognitive basis for harmony between the eastern and western parts of the country. These invaluable assets can be specifically used in the promotion of exchange between the local autonomous governments of the regions where above-mentioned scholars built an amicable relationship, joint commemorative events, exchange between families of the scholars of both regions, opening of special exhibitions dedicated to the harmony between Yongnam and Giho at museums in the two regions, co-organization of local festivals, joint operation of culture programs, and relationship and exchange between the 'seowons' in both regions, through which to promote the long history of exchange between the scholars of the past and utilize it in joint projects.