KOREA

Honelako gehiago

Slavery

by Ajay Khurana

Gender Equality

by Sara A

Sociology - Social Inequalities: Class and Gender

by caroline dennard

Why did some of the colonies put aside differences and create a new country -- Canada

by Erin W.

Whose perspective does it reflect?

The perspective is of how women that who were thrice-married, and the effects it had on their descendants. Women who had been thrice-married were looked down on, seen as immoral, unfaithful, and it greatly affected their descendants; as they were listed with licentious women. Women who were only twice-married were not seen the same, as Inspector-General Kim Yongyu says, it was difficult for a woman to keep her chastity if she was widowed young, so if her family had wanted her to re-marry, it didn't harm propriety. (Caitlin)

Primary Source Questions

Which questions can this source help me answer? Which can it not?

Some of the questions it can help answer are: What was Korea’s response to the Japanese invasion? What was the impact of the Korean innovations on the Japanese invasion? What kind of gender roles were there before the 14th century, and what kind of gender roles were there after the 14th century? What was slavery like in 14th-century Korea? (Caitlin) What did Korea's ships look like during the war? What happened to the children of slaves or thrice remarried women? Could they break out of these restraints? (Iwin)

Some questions this source doesn't help to answer are: What were the specific laws and punishments for crimes in ancient Korea? What was the effectiveness of the National Code about thrice-married women? Why were women valued based on their ability to adhere to such strict morals? What were some of the specific laws that limited rights according to gender and social status? (Caitlin)

Whose perspectives are omitted/questioned/challenged?

The 1477 Prohibition Against the Remarriage of Women was an excerpt from Songjong
sillock about the social and cultural issues of women re-marrying, one of the various laws that limited individual's rights and freedoms just because of their gender or social status. Women were only taken seriously if they abided by Korea's morals of staying with their first husband, so it's safe to say that women who remarried 3x did not get a say in this legal decision and were forced to comply with this restriction, at the cost of their freedom and happiness. There is no evidence that men were not allowed to remarry, outlining that only women's perspectives and experiences were omitted from this. Regarding the source 'On Abolishing Slavery', the scholar Yu Hyongwon spoke against Korea's normalization of hereditary slavery despite it existing for centuries. He believed the practice was immoral and damaging Korea's class structure, a different perspective on the issue that challenged their government and society. (Iwin)

What ideas are left out?

Regarding the summary of Japan's failed invasion to Korea, the author fails to include the reason behind this attempted violation of sovereignty. The idea that Japan wanted to achieve its social, economic or geo-political goals, ultimately forcing Korea to develop isolationist policies, is completely exempt from the source. Also, any information regarding whether Japan had prior hostilities towards Korea or became power-hungry cannot be found here, leaving out vital background knowledge to Japan's attempted invasion of Korea. Regarding the Prohibition Against Remarriage of Women, information about the distaste for thrice remarried women in particular is left out. Whether it's religious or revolved around chastity, twice remarried women are not looked down upon at this same level, for reasons unknown. (Iwin)

What are the big ideas?

The main ideas are Korea's isolation, gender and class, the prohibition against women remarrying, and abolishing slavery. Korea isolated itself by making their vessels almost impossible to board, by adding an iron-clad shell with spikes to their ships. Before the 14th century, women had been able to own property, and get divorced easily, but when neo-Confucianism influences started, familial and cultural systems were reshaped, resulting in a strict class system. At this point in time, the sons and grandsons of thrice-married women were barred from examinations, and could not have had posts in the censorial offices. On abolishing slavery, it is said that there was no way to get out of slavery, so there had been 80 or 90% of the population that were slaves. (Caitlin)

How does the author communicate ideas?

This author communicates their ideas by explaining what happened for Korea to adopt isolationist policies. They explain that the Koreans' new innovations allowed them to stay on the outside of the Japanese ships in 1598 when the Japanese invasion happened, instead of engaging with the Japanese ships. After the Japanese invasion, Korea went inward, wanting to protect their territory and culture. The author is very matter of fact, and uses lots of examples to show the reader how, and why things happened. This author gives lots of details, and paints a picture for the reader to better understand this point in time. (Caitlin)

What does it reveal about the values and beliefs of the past?

The 1477 Songjong sillock excerpt of the Prohibition Against the Remarriage of Women revealed that Korea's patriarchal society valued women's modesty and faithfulness, and would go to great lengths to punish them for going against their morals, but not men who had done the same. Thrice-married women saw the negative effects of their decision to have a new partner in their sons or grandsons, as they would be barred from certain jobs. This reveals that Korea believed in collective punishment, as those who had no role in these remarriages would be unjustly deprived of opportunities, to serve as a lesson to widows. (Iwin)

Did it result in change?

This resulted in change by making sure that women who were thrice-married were listed with licentious women. Inspector-General Kim Yongyu said that social safeguards had become more lax, using the example of Yi Sim’s wife, who’s reputation had been spreading. It says that if that kind of behaviour is not checked, women of lower status would have taken this example as a pretext to not remain faithful. So then, according to the National Code, the descendants of thrice-married women were punished, although the statutes were based on fundamental law. It said that if it is pointed out what is good and bad, morality will become naturally correct, even if a direct law was made concerning re-marriage. (Caitlin)

What does it look like?

The replica of a Korean turtle ship at the Seoul War Memorial reveals a lot about the construction of Korea's battle vessels at this time. It gives a physical description of the turtle ship, saying that it is oval and squared off at the ends. The front of the ship features a dragon's head, and the iron roof on top looks like a shell with short spikes. This source, the picture, only tells the consumer half of the story due to it only showing the front of the turtle ship. It still, however, hints at Korea's advanced techniques and resources used in their architecture and construction. The other sources are digitalized, and while they contain historical information, there's no physical evidence of when or conditions they were created under, just based on looking at them. (Iwin)

Who wrote it? Why?

It is presumed that members of Korea's legal system wrote the Prohibition Against the Remarriage of Women, as it was part of a court discussion that outlined issues they deemed were urgent issues their society needed to resolve. Assuming the people behind them were men, they did it to limit a women's freedom of choice due to the common belief in conservative countries that women's purpose was to care for their husband and children due to their supposed maternal instincts and skills surrounding taking care of others. In reality, this law was written for men to once again have a say over a woman's body, despite them being allowed to remarry without judgement, a demonstration of Korea's past biases. The actual sources are excerpts from Pangye surok with the Yu Hyongwon on Abolishing Slavery and Songjong sillok: Prohibition Against Remarriage of Women from Asia for Educators, Columbia University. Seeing the authors are from a university's website about the history of Asia, it is evident that these were created in an academic setting to keep modern copies and summaries of these historic pieces of legislation. or events are easy to access for those researching Korea. (Iwin)

KOREA

Significance Questions