• 한국학연구
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• no.50
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• pp.157-186
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• 2018

The study examines the process of resuming diplomatic relations and establishing a diplomatic system in the early 17th century. It focused on the discontinuity and continuity of the policy toward Japan in the end of King Seonjo's period and in the early days of Gwanghaegun. This is a studies on serial process of the restoration of peace after the Japanese Invasion of Korea. The process began with the Peace Negotiation, and led to the Resuming Diplastic Relations by dispatching Joseon Emissions to Japan in 1607. The Gwang'hae-gun regime agreed with Japan to sign on the Gi'yu-year agreement in 1609 and by doing so formed a platform for future Joseon-Japan diplomatic talks arranged through the Dae'ma-do/對馬島 island. Then, the Joseon government reinforced the principle of 'banning' Japanese envoys from approaching the Joseon capital, limiting the activities of the Japanese emissaries in Joseon territory to the Wae'gwan facility of the Dong'rae area. These actions of the Joseon government outlined the format for future diplomatic contacts with the Japanese in the dynasty's latter half period. At the time, when the Joseon people was facing Japanese presence in the south part of the Korean peninsula and the 'Jurchen' barbarians' in the north, Gwang'hae-gun considered 'maintaining relationships' with Japan and 'protecting the country' from the Jurchen threat as two top-level priorities for the Joseon defense. In order to do that, he had to establish Japan, which invaded Joseon for seven years in the 1590s, as a diplomatic partner to exchange talks with. He had to mitigate the anti-Japanese sentiment of the country's population, and intermediate clashing opinions in the policy discussion process. In the meantime, in order to deal with problems surfacing everywhere, Gwang'hae-gun maintained a stance of prioritizing the pursuit of public interest and amicable relationships, and not an ideological and principle-based one. It was quite a departure from the government's policy of the late 17th century.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.32
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• pp.43-78
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• 2011

The two schools which eventually came to form the "Northerners party" in the middle period of the Joseon dynasty, were Nam'myeong school and Hwadam school. Nam'myeong's philosophy, which emphasized the importance and merit of acting upon respect and righteousness(敬義), encouraged many people to organize righteous militias during the war with the Japanese in the 1590s, and when Jeong In-hong established himself as the leader of the Northerners party during the reign of King Gwang'hae-gun, the philosophy of the party and the school continued to thrive. Also, Hwadam's philosophy, which tried to understand Neo-Confucianism from a flexible point of view and demonstrated a level of openness toward it, had a considerable influence upon the Northerners school as well. It seems Nam'myeong Jo Shik and Hwadam Seo Gyeong-deok were the ones who ultimately enabled the Northerners party to be more active in their operations of the government and also to approach more freely toward the ideology of Neo-Confucianism. Prime examples of the party's stance and attitude, and also of the school's philosophy and perception of the world, were figures like Jeong In-hong and Heo Gyun from the 'Majority Northerners(大北) party,' and Kim Shin-guk and Nam I-gong from the 'Minority Northerners(小北) party.'Since the time of King Injo's ascension to the throne in 1623, the philosophical society of Joseon came to be occupied by schools who were deeply committed and dedicated to the teachings of Ju Hi and his Neo-Confucianism, such as the Twe'gye and Yulgok schools, and as a result the Northerners' philosophy was pushed away from its former formidable status. Their political philosophy was also partially responsible for their fall, as they believed only them were the ideal Confucian figures(君子黨), and never appreciated the stances of other political factions. In the middle of the 17th century, passing through a war with the Manchurian Qing dynasty as well, they further became a mere undercurrent. Yet their thinking and philosophy partially survived, as it managed to affect and influence the Southerner school scholars who were living in the vicinity of the capital in the mid and late 17th century, as well as the "Shilhak" scholars such as Yi Ik/李瀷 in the 18th century, on a certain level. The Northerners faction was a party and a school which led the political and philosophical societies of Joseon, alongside the Westerners and Southerners, in the middle period of the Joseon dynasty. Recently, studies of Jo Shik and Seo Gyeong-deok, figures who were the roots of the Northerners faction, and studies of how the Northerners' political philosophy was inherited to the following generations, have been published and announced. All these efforts will enrich future studies dealing with the political history and philosophical history of the middle and latter periods of the Joseon dynasty.