By John Burton
The U.S. earlier this month established Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in 1865, as a new national holiday. The move had broad bipartisan support despite increased political polarization and reflected growing public interest in the lasting impact of slavery on the U.S.
Perhaps it's time that Korea examine its own legacy of slavery, which was only legally banned in 1894, 29 years after its end in the U.S. Mark Peterson, a former professor of Korean studies at Brigham Young University and one of the few U.S. scholars who has studied Korean slavery, has argued that Korea had the longest, unbroken chain of slaveholding in the world, lasting nearly 1,500 years. Its legacy might help explain such modern phenomena as the sex slavery of the "comfort women" during World War II and North Korea's "seongbun" caste system.
The seongbun system, in particular, is just a modern update of the social stratification that reached its height during the Joseon period, with the nobi class of servants, serfs and slaves serving the yangban class of nobles.
Slavery in Korea began during the Three Kingdoms period when there was a shortage of labor and those captured in the regional wars were enslaved by the conquerors. They and their descendants were never freed, creating a hereditary class of slaves. A document from the period shows that one Silla aristocrat had 3,000 slaves.
The slave population grew during the following Goryeo period. By the time of the beginning of Joseon Kingdom at the end of the 14th century, it is estimated that there were 200,000 state and private slaves out of a total population of 2 million, indicating that the political and economic elite had become dependent on slave labor for basic production.
The Korean slavery system was more akin to those that had operated in ancient Greece and Rome rather than in the antebellum southern U.S., which was based on a clear distinction between white owners and Black slaves imported from Africa. In contrast, all the Korean slaves were ethnic Koreans.
But both the Korean and American slave systems were well-organized. There was, for example, an "office of fostering slaves" in the Joseon government. By the 17th century in Joseon Korea, an estimated one-third of the population was engaged in some form of coerced labor.
Slaves in both societies were regarded as legal chattel that could be bought and sold, while slave hunters were employed to hunt down those who had escaped. As in the U.S., children in Korea who were born of a slave mother and a "yangban" father were considered to be slaves.
Some Korean scholars argue that the status of many of the nobi was more similar to that of serfs in Russia who enjoyed some civil and property rights and had an established legal status. This was particularly true in Korea for those who worked on large royal and yangban estates.
The slave system in Korea began to break down following the invasions of Joseon by the Japanese in the 1590s and the Qing Dynasty Chinese in 1636, which left the Korean economy devastated. The government needed increased tax revenue and since the nobi were not required to pay taxes, they were gradually freed so that they could become a new source of revenue for government coffers. In addition, the growth of the population reduced the labor shortage that had fostered slavery.
Those who were emancipated adopted the surnames of their aristocratic masters, the most prominent of which were the Kim, Lee and Park royal families, which explains the wide prevalence of these surnames in Korea today.
It is also one explanation of why the history of slavery is less remembered in Korea than in the U.S. Former Korean slaves could easily blend back into society because they shared the same ethnic roots and common family names, while former slaves in the U.S. were easily identified by their dark skin.
Nonetheless, Korea has had to contend with the cultural and psychological legacy of slavery. The Koreans who procured young women for the Japanese military brothels of World War II echoed the sexual violence that "nobi" women suffered, including rapes by yangban masters and slave hunters.
The Walk Free Foundation, a human rights group, estimates that North Korea now has the highest rate of slavery in the world, with 10 percent of the population engaged in some form of state-sponsored unpaid forced labor.
This modern version of slavery is based on the strict class distinctions imposed by the seongbun system, which established a social hierarchy according to political reliability and family background. There is also a note of racism in the classification system, with those having traces of Chinese or Japanese blood considered second-class citizens.
Slavery continues to cast its dark shadow over the Korean Peninsula.
John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.
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Perhaps it's time that Korea examine its own legacy of slavery, which was only legally banned in 1894, 29 years after its end in the U.S. Mark Peterson, a former professor of Korean studies at Brigham Young University and one of the few U.S. scholars who has studied Korean slavery, has argued that Korea had the longest, unbroken chain of slaveholding in the world, lasting nearly 1,500 years. Its legacy might help explain such modern phenomena as the sex slavery of the "comfort women" during World War II and North Korea's "seongbun" caste system.
The seongbun system, in particular, is just a modern update of the social stratification that reached its height during the Joseon period, with the nobi class of servants, serfs and slaves serving the yangban class of nobles.
Slavery in Korea began during the Three Kingdoms period when there was a shortage of labor and those captured in the regional wars were enslaved by the conquerors. They and their descendants were never freed, creating a hereditary class of slaves. A document from the period shows that one Silla aristocrat had 3,000 slaves.
The slave population grew during the following Goryeo period. By the time of the beginning of Joseon Kingdom at the end of the 14th century, it is estimated that there were 200,000 state and private slaves out of a total population of 2 million, indicating that the political and economic elite had become dependent on slave labor for basic production.
The Korean slavery system was more akin to those that had operated in ancient Greece and Rome rather than in the antebellum southern U.S., which was based on a clear distinction between white owners and Black slaves imported from Africa. In contrast, all the Korean slaves were ethnic Koreans.
But both the Korean and American slave systems were well-organized. There was, for example, an "office of fostering slaves" in the Joseon government. By the 17th century in Joseon Korea, an estimated one-third of the population was engaged in some form of coerced labor.
Slaves in both societies were regarded as legal chattel that could be bought and sold, while slave hunters were employed to hunt down those who had escaped. As in the U.S., children in Korea who were born of a slave mother and a "yangban" father were considered to be slaves.
Some Korean scholars argue that the status of many of the nobi was more similar to that of serfs in Russia who enjoyed some civil and property rights and had an established legal status. This was particularly true in Korea for those who worked on large royal and yangban estates.
The slave system in Korea began to break down following the invasions of Joseon by the Japanese in the 1590s and the Qing Dynasty Chinese in 1636, which left the Korean economy devastated. The government needed increased tax revenue and since the nobi were not required to pay taxes, they were gradually freed so that they could become a new source of revenue for government coffers. In addition, the growth of the population reduced the labor shortage that had fostered slavery.
Those who were emancipated adopted the surnames of their aristocratic masters, the most prominent of which were the Kim, Lee and Park royal families, which explains the wide prevalence of these surnames in Korea today.
It is also one explanation of why the history of slavery is less remembered in Korea than in the U.S. Former Korean slaves could easily blend back into society because they shared the same ethnic roots and common family names, while former slaves in the U.S. were easily identified by their dark skin.
Nonetheless, Korea has had to contend with the cultural and psychological legacy of slavery. The Koreans who procured young women for the Japanese military brothels of World War II echoed the sexual violence that "nobi" women suffered, including rapes by yangban masters and slave hunters.
The Walk Free Foundation, a human rights group, estimates that North Korea now has the highest rate of slavery in the world, with 10 percent of the population engaged in some form of state-sponsored unpaid forced labor.
This modern version of slavery is based on the strict class distinctions imposed by the seongbun system, which established a social hierarchy according to political reliability and family background. There is also a note of racism in the classification system, with those having traces of Chinese or Japanese blood considered second-class citizens.
Slavery continues to cast its dark shadow over the Korean Peninsula.
John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.
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