Ch 9 - A Centralized Society

The Conscience of the State

Choson's Neo-Confucian literati zealously pursued economic wealth, social prestige, and political power. Government agencies staffed largely with deeply committed young Confucianists constantly challenged Choson's old guard. The direct challenge to high-level bureaucrats shifted the center of political authority away from the king and triggered open conflict within the Choson government.

The nearly century-long domination of Koryo by the arbitrary rule of a succession of military strongmen engendered a Confucian bias in the Yi dynasty toward the logical and traditional primacy of civil officials. This attitude reflected itself in the form of restricting the military from those duties entrusted to civil bureaucrats. The prestige and career opportunities available to civil officials were markedly greater than those available to the military. Although military officers could strive for appointment to such prestigious posts as the High State Council or one of the Six Boards, the odds were against them. Certain offices, namely the Royal Secretariat, the Censorate, and the Office of Special Counselors (OSC) were virtually closed to the military. The Board of War, a civilian agency almost always staffed by civil officials, institutionalized this principal of civilian primacy. Civil officials had access to virtually every important military post, and their superior status combined with an attitude of superiority aroused considerable resentment among Choson's military men.

Perhaps the most important recruiting method for both civil and military officials was the government service examination. Civil service candidates competed once every three years to pass two examination courses. From the results of locally held preliminary course examinations, the top seven hundred successful candidates received a Literary Licentiate or Classics Licentiate degree. The second course examination, administered in Seoul, awarded only one hundred Literary Licentiate degrees and one hundred Classics Licentiate degrees. Licentiate degree holders who passed the first hurdle next tried the higher civil examination course held in three stages. The provincial level civil examination reduced the field to about 240 degree candidates. Next, the Board of Rites examination taken in Seoul further reduced their numbers to about thirty-three. Finally, the successful candidates took a third examination, held in the presence of the king, to determine their final ranking.

The Board of War administered the military service examinations similarly to the civil examinations. In a typical triennial examination, only twenty-eight candidates successfully passed the final course. In addition to the regular triennial civil and military examinations, the government held "special examinations" at other times for a variety of reasons. Normally, these examinations accepted fewer candidates than the state examinations, but over the years the increased frequency of "special examinations" led to a rapidly growing population of successful candidates, all competing for an essentially constant number of government appointments.

The Yi government administered a school system that functioned as an extension of its examination system. Candidates for the civil examination attended the country's highest preparatory school, the National Academy in Seoul. While the supervisory and teaching posts in the National Academy were not of particularly high rank, they nonetheless carried considerable prestige. Candidates seeking schooling for the military examination attended the Military Training Administration. The National Academy, site of the National Confucian Shrine that honored the elite among the Chinese and Choson Confucian sages, limited its enrollment to 200 students, nearly all of whom held licentiate degrees. In addition to these two institutions, the government also sponsored technical schools, each attached to its related government department. Technical schools trained students for various specialized examination courses in law, foreign languages, medicine, and astronomy. Staff positions in these schools were an integral part of the Yi bureaucracy. Choson attached great importance to the educational process. The government regarded students as junior or apprentice members of the bureaucracy and understood that they constituted a sizable potential political force.

Perhaps the most significant event of King Songjong's reign was the emergence of a large population of rural Neo-Confucian literati, learned or virtuous Confucianist yangban scholars who maintained their power base in the countryside. The early Yi dynasty's political system offered an extraordinary medium through which young, dedicated, particularly ambitious officials could make their personal bid for power. Choson's government examination system brought large numbers of new aspirants into public office, men whose claim to preferential treatment rested not just on birthright or meritorious service to the king, but on the entitlement of Confucian righteousness. The rural literati preferred to exert their political influence through provincial administrative districts rather than seek entry into the central capital bureaucracy. These were the elite of the Confucian education process, bright and idealistic young men who were both dogmatic and uncompromising. Because the Confucian system made no provision for compromise or opposing points of view, they proved to be extremely intolerant of those who did not share their views. Whatever a young official's immediate ambitions in life may have been, his ultimate goal was a career in public office, the chief avenue to economic well-being, social prestige, and self-fulfillment in Choson.

Merit Subjects, men closely related by marriage to the throne, and numerous others who owed their affluence to being included on one or more of the five state merit rosters created during the reigns of Tanjong, Sejo and Yejong and the early years of King Songjong, constituted Choson's "old guard." These were men accustomed to dominating government deliberations and having their advice stand or fall in the eyes of the king on merit alone. Merit Subject status, frequently awarded in connection with succession disputes that demanded the talents of many military men, provided not only unique opportunities for political advancement, but vast economic rewards. The character and educational background of Merit Subjects made them the antithesis of the ideal Confucian civil administrator. While Merit Subjects, members of the queen's family, relatives of the royal house, or bureaucrats holding no particular advantage could be awarded large amounts of land and given the power to wield great political influence, they could not be given immunity against assaults on their privileged position.

Confucian dogma promoted career advancement according to a fairly administered examination system that demonstrated a candidate's ability in the art of governance. It also promoted the ideals of simplicity and frugality and condemned materialism. This inherent contradiction between Confucian doctrine and the power and privilege of the aristocracy existed regardless of who held power in government. Government agencies, staffed largely with younger, less privileged men deeply committed to Confucian ideology, constantly challenged the old guard's enjoyment of high station. The views of the highly reform-minded literati had an idealistic and moral thrust that differed from that of the scholar-bureaucrats in Seoul. They freely used the tools of character assassination and malicious, unfounded allegations against anyone they felt was their enemy. The most trivial point of Confucian doctrine, even a minor breach of social etiquette, could become the pretext for an attack from the literati.

King Songjong sat at the head of a new system of government established by the new Yi dynasty, a system that claimed the sanction of Chinese Confucian doctrine, but which had been modified by the practical demands of administration, by Korea's own aristocratic traditions, and by the harsh reality of human frailties. Although he sought to block further expansion of the rural literati's preponderant power, large numbers of them acquired posts in the central government. Young, newly-arrived members of the rural literati who occupied the majority of the posts in the Office of the Censor-General (OCG) and the Office of Special Counselors (OSC) came to represent a powerful force in government.

A unique aspect of the OSC was that its Counselors also held positions in the Office of the Royal Lectures. In concept, the Royal Lectures offered a chance to debate and clarify the essential concepts of Chinese and Korean classical texts for the king. In practice, Royal Lectures sessions became extraordinary audiences at which the only order of business was to debate the burning issues of the day. Among the many high government officers who attended these sessions, representatives of the Censorate were authorized to participate in two of the three daily sessions. With its broad mandate to "advise" the king, the OSC inevitably presented its own views, solicited or not, on questions raised by the censoring officials. OSC officials soon came to regard themselves as the arbiters of the Censorate's words, frequently endorsing their recommendations in even more strong and sweeping terms than the Censorate had used.In time, the three censoring bodies came to be recognized by a single term, samsa, to collectively designate the OIG, OCG and OSC as the government's censoring bodies. The Samsa represented the conscience of the state, ever vigilant against violations of an ideal set of ethical standards.

As Confucian students who esteemed deep learning in the Chinese classics above all else, the rural literati used their positions in the Samsa to increase their influence. They directly challenged the older, experienced, high-level government bureaucrats, challenging nearly every move they made, sometimes quite successfully, and frequently brought their very character and integrity into question. King Songjong broadly defined the functions of criticism and review practiced by the Samsa and exhibited a generous tolerance of the practice. Since many of the protests originating in the Samsa were based on Confucian premises and directed at non-Confucian targets, Songjong generally tended to accept their views. Unfortunately, his tolerant nature also led him to accept without question significant restraints on his own conduct and the exercise of royal authority. In the absence strong royal authority, the Samsa gradually filled the void as the final arbiter of the conduct of government affairs, an effort that encountered opposition and engendered bitter conflict.

A case brought before the State Tribunal in the summer of 1477 set off a firestorm of controversy that had implications far beyond the facts of the case. The dispute between two unimportant yangban over forced cohabitation and property rights was resolved when First Royal Secretary Hyon Sok-kyu agreed with the Tribunal in claiming the defendants were guilty of nothing more than an illegal marriage. The plaintiffs were then charged with making false accusations. Five subordinate members of the Royal Secretariat - Second Royal Secretary Yi Kuk-ki, Third Royal Secretary Im Sa-hong, Fourth Royal Secretary Son Sun-hyo, Fifth Royal Secretary Han Han, a brother-in-law of one of the plaintiffs, and Sixth Royal Secretary Hong Kwi-dal - presented a memorial to King Songjong urging him to drop charges against the plaintiffs. Infuriated by the document, Secretary Hyon castigated Secretary Hong Kwi-dal for his "erroneous view" in a face-to-face meeting and accused him of exceeding his authority in presenting his view to the king.

Sixth Royal Secretary Hong Kwi-dal not only refused to back down, he again sent a memorial to King Songjong, followed a day later by a memorial from Second Royal Secretary Yi Kuk-ki. First Secretary Hyon angrily counterattacked, joined by Censor-General Son Pi-jang, who brought bribery charges against Hong Kwi-dal and other Royal Secretaries. Secretary Hong was stripped of his office warrants and King Songjong effectively closed the case by approving sentences against both the plaintiffs and the defendants. The underlying conflict triggered by the case lived on.

Censor-General Son Pi-jang and his colleagues in the OCG began repeating a growing rumor that First Royal Secretary Hyon Sok-kyu had used "undecorous language" in his reprimand of Secretary Hong Kwi-dal. King Songjong accepted Secretary Hyon's denial of the charge, but wanted to know where this rumor had started. He traced the allegation of breach of etiquette against the First Royal Secretary to Third Royal Secretary Im Sa-hong, who claimed to have personally witnessed the episode. Hyon Sok-kyu and Im Sa-hong, two men of formidable talent and repute, faced off against each other in a battle of accusations and denials. The Samsa repeatedly called for both men to be punished for their unseemly behavior in the king's presence. King Songjong firmly refused to punish the men, but broke the deadlock by transferring Im Sa-hong and two other Royal Secretaries to other posts of equal rank. The transfers were immediately attacked as unfair, since it left First Royal Secretary Hyon Sok-kyu in his original post.

King Songjong finally relented to the mounting pressure and, to demonstrate his own power, transferred Secretary Hyon to the higher-ranking office of Inspector-General. When the Censorate objected, he transferred Hyon again, this time to the even higher office of Minister of Punishments. The Censorate was not impressed. Fourth Inspector Kim On-sin launched a vicious verbal attack against Hyon, calling him a genuinely amoral man. After the entire body of former State Councilors and incumbent high officials concurred in the opinion that Hyon was not an amoral man, King Songjong jailed Kim On-sin and ignored continuing Censorate demands to file criminal charges against Hyon Sok-kyu.

The issue lay dormant for months, with none of the principal players having been hurt. Hyon Sok-kyu had been promoted and Im Sa-hong had been transferred without prejudice at equal rank. King Songjong's modest concept of royal leadership created a power vacuum in the government that the Samsa eagerly rushed in to fill. Their constant debate and criticism of his policies, even after decisions had been reached, eroded his authority and that of his ministers. This shift in the center of political authority away from the king virtually replaced the concept of executive responsibility with a kind of government by committee in which the Samsa had the dominant voice. It did not take long before open conflict developed between the rural literati and the meritorious elite. The more evident the king's wide tolerance of opposition became, the bolder and more extreme the censoring organs became in the exercise of their power.

The first truly notable instance of political strife in Songjong's reign developed early in 1478 over a matter of Confucian propriety. King Songjong announced plans for special rites to honor the aged, during which he intended to discuss the ways of good government with two elder statesmen, one of whom was the famous scholar-official Prime Merit Subject Chong In-ji. Third Inspector Pak Suk-tal questioned the propriety of giving Chong such an honor, citing his notoriety for accumulating wealth and property. When other Censorate officials joined Pak in criticizing Chong In-ji, Songjong abandoned his original plans and decided to hold a state banquet at the National Academy in honor of all elderly officials. On the day of the banquet, two Censorate officials asked that one of the guests, Great Lord Kim Su-on, a Songjong Merit Subject, not be permitted to enter the National Academy on the grounds that he was a Buddhist and the younger brother of a prominent monk. Songjong agreed with the Censorate and excluded Lord Kim from the banquet.

Several other examples of opposition occurred during the spring of 1478, each unrelated to the other, and each concerned mostly the private conduct of the king, members of the royal family, or high government officials. The Censorate's activities naturally angered high government officials and others against whom they directed their attacks, but it was the memorials of Yi Sim-won and Nam Yyo-on that first drew sustained fire from the Samsa. In response to the king's "appeal for counsel," royal clansman Yi Sim-won met with King Songjong to discuss the distress of the people. During his royal audience, Yi Sim-won presented a memorial that requested King Songjong to curb yangban extravagances and prohibit the forced collection of private loans by powerful families. He also hinted that Sejo's Merit Subjects should not be employed and urged that certain named rural literati be given responsible positions in the government.

First Royal Secretary Im Sa-hong carefully read Yi Sim-won's memorial. Afterward, he not only asserted that the recommended men were unworthy of employment, but he ridiculed Yi Sim-won as an impractical dreamer and a stupid, irresponsible man. Secretary Im added that the king's recent overeager desire to accept opposition from the Censorate had given them a free rein to abuse their prerogatives. He urged that Songjong heed the Censorate's words only after careful consideration and rebuke them whenever they were improper.

Soon afterward, in response to the same royal appeal for counsel, a student named Nam Yyo-on presented a written eight-point program that recommended, among other things, the restoration of the tomb of King Danjong's mother. Nam also requested that a number of rural literati noted for their filial conduct be employed in government. When Nam Hyo-on's proposal appeared, First Royal Secretary Im Sa-hong boldly asserted that the document merely echoed the words of Yi Sim-won and that the two men, and others like them, had formed a clique under the guise of promoting Neo-Confucianism. The First Royal Secretary continued his attack by offering the view that excluding Great Lord Kim Su-on from the National Academy banquet in honor of the aged had been improper, since other non-Confucianists (military officials) had been in attendance. Songjong again upheld the Censorate, specifically in the matter of the banquet, and generally by expressing his belief that loyal opposition was a good thing and should not be handicapped by reprimand. Within days of Im Sa-hong's comments, the Office of Special Counselors led by First Councilor Yu Jin and Office of Royal Decrees personnel led by First Diarist P'yo Yon-mal issued a lengthy written denunciation of the First Royal Secretary.

The violent OSC attack accused Im Sa-hong of scheming to suppress the Censorate and "bring ruin to the state."

"The words of Im Sa-hong are those of the evil men of yore;  the king's injunctions in reply are those of the most sage and brilliant monarchs. We cannot praise the king enough;  we cannot find words to express our indignation at Im Sa-hong."

Turning personal, the memorial also castigated Im Sa-hong's father as being evil, unorthodox, greedy and corrupt. The OSC requested that King Songjong remove Im Sa-hong and his father from their posts and banish them. This was too much for the tolerant monarch who directed the Board of Personnel to remove all twenty-one officials of the Office of Special Counselors and the Office of Royal Decrees. As a pretext for the massive dismissals, Songjong declared the men lacked the courage to bring to his attention their knowledge of the evil of Im Sa-hong and his father when the two were first appointed to the posts they now held.

Yi Sim-won presented the coup de grace against the First Royal Secretary in a personal interview with King Songjong, where he endorsed the defamatory charges leveled against Im and his father. Yi was a close kinsman of Im Sa-hong and knew the man's true character very well. He personally endorsed the inflammatory charges against Im and his father, adding that Im was indeed behind the attacks on Hyon Sok-kyu the previous year and blamed him for the political turmoil then underway in Seoul. Following a personal interrogation by the king, Im Sa-hong, Yu Cha-gwang, Pak Hyo-won, and Kim On-sin were bound over to the State Tribunal for trial. The judicial proceedings found the men guilty of forming a clique and causing turmoil in the government. They were sentenced and banished. Im Sa-hong's family and supporters launched a number of counterattacks against the proceedings during the following months. Yi Sim-won's own grandfather charged that Yi had uttered impudent and disobedient words to him. Yi's career unraveled when his family sided with Im Sa-hong. King Songjong accepted the charges of unfilial conduct against Yi Sim-won and punished him by stripping his office warrants and banishing him from Seoul.

The remaining years of Songjong's reign were filled with a rising level of contentiousness mixed with almost daily outcries from the Censorate. During this time, the Censorate directed its most significant efforts not against the families of royal in-laws, but against the highest government officials in Choson, even against the king himself. The Censorate flexed its muscle and challenged the throne with stinging accusations at nearly every turn. The growing conflict between the Samsa, the High State Council and the palace increased in intensity and soon brought on a series of bloody conflicts in Choson known as the "literati purges."