고려 충숙왕의 전민변정 및 상인등용 (Chungsuk-wang’s Rectifying of land ownership & human condition problems, and Enlisting merchant figures into the government)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국역사연구회
· 수록지 정보 : 역사와 현실 / 72호 / 159 ~ 206페이지
· 저자명 : 이강한

초록

Goryeo King Chungsuk-wang displayed a couple of interesting policy initiatives, in the area of governmental finance during his reign, which lasted for more than 25 years. In the former half of his reign(1314~1325), he chose not to continue his father(King Chungseon-wang)'s policy of revising the tax system and increasing extraction upon several sources. Instead, he started to correct certain problems that cropped up during Chungseon-wang's governance, by rectifying powerful beings' malpractices of illegally taking custody of commoners or making them lowly persons, and by determining legitimate ownerships over land units. Then during the latter half of his reign(1325~1339), he and his vassals & cronies started enlisting merchant figures(and people who had working relationships with such merchants) into the political arena for governmental service.
With the success of former king Chungseon-wang's financial policies, the monetary status of the Goryeo dynasty was significantly enhanced(in the eary 14th century), and Chungsuk-wang was initiating his financial policies (in 1318) in a very different climate. Benefitting from his father's accomplishments, quite naturally he tried to eliminate the problems caused by his father's policies instead of pointlessly rehashing it. With Chungsuk-wang's efforts, several things that went without being appropriately dealt with, were granted attention that they duly desired.
Yet when Chungseon-wang was exiled to a remote location inside the Yuan empire in 1320, and Chungsuk-wang was held captive in the empire's capital and was forced to reside there for five years until 1325, short-term expenditure of the government skyrocketed, and the positive effects from Chungseon-wang's former financial reforms also started to disappear. Facing such crisis, Chungsuk-wang had to devise new plans to fight the recurrence of a financial dry-up that haunted the government for decades so he and his followers started to recruit merchants with relationships to commercial activities, in order to utilize them in the government's efforts and attempts of exploring new possible options that would enhance the revenue of the government.
And it should also be noted that all these policy initiatives displayed by Chungsuk-wang indeed featured some probable influences from the contemporary governance of the Yuan imperial government as well. Emperor Jen-tsung was well known for his negation of his predecessor Wu-tsung and’s financial policies. He pursued a more tempered financial policy, and abandoned all kinds of artificial projects designed to raise the governmental income level, while trying to alleviate and mitigate several social problems that were left unattended by his predecessor's governance. Jen-tsung's stay in the reign almost overlapped with the early half of Chungsuk-wang's governance, so a probable relationship and a possible inspiration between the governance of those two leaders might have been in works. Then during the latter half of Chungsuk-wang's governance, the sitting emperor of the empire was Emperor T'aiting, who infamously supported Muslim merchants' activities in and out of the empire, and promoted the Yuan government's trade relationships with entities of financial and commercial potentials throughout both the inland and maritime silkroads. Chungsuk-wang's 5 year stay in Yuan during the early 1320s, and his later return visit to Yuan in the early 1330s when he was forced to temporarily relinquish the Goryeo reign to his son, overlapped with the period of T’aiting’s and his successor Wen-tsung's promotion of trade relationships, so he had the opportunity to observe all the proliferated investments and fierce retrieval of profits that were being conducted throughout the empire at the time. Acquired knowledge of the entire procedure involving inland and maritime trade and transactions with the West Asian Muslim world would have deeply inspired Chungsuk-wang, and must have been vastly informative for the king's new initiatives in the second phase of his reign.

영어초록

Goryeo King Chungsuk-wang displayed a couple of interesting policy initiatives, in the area of governmental finance during his reign, which lasted for more than 25 years. In the former half of his reign(1314~1325), he chose not to continue his father(King Chungseon-wang)'s policy of revising the tax system and increasing extraction upon several sources. Instead, he started to correct certain problems that cropped up during Chungseon-wang's governance, by rectifying powerful beings' malpractices of illegally taking custody of commoners or making them lowly persons, and by determining legitimate ownerships over land units. Then during the latter half of his reign(1325~1339), he and his vassals & cronies started enlisting merchant figures(and people who had working relationships with such merchants) into the political arena for governmental service.
With the success of former king Chungseon-wang's financial policies, the monetary status of the Goryeo dynasty was significantly enhanced(in the eary 14th century), and Chungsuk-wang was initiating his financial policies (in 1318) in a very different climate. Benefitting from his father's accomplishments, quite naturally he tried to eliminate the problems caused by his father's policies instead of pointlessly rehashing it. With Chungsuk-wang's efforts, several things that went without being appropriately dealt with, were granted attention that they duly desired.
Yet when Chungseon-wang was exiled to a remote location inside the Yuan empire in 1320, and Chungsuk-wang was held captive in the empire's capital and was forced to reside there for five years until 1325, short-term expenditure of the government skyrocketed, and the positive effects from Chungseon-wang's former financial reforms also started to disappear. Facing such crisis, Chungsuk-wang had to devise new plans to fight the recurrence of a financial dry-up that haunted the government for decades so he and his followers started to recruit merchants with relationships to commercial activities, in order to utilize them in the government's efforts and attempts of exploring new possible options that would enhance the revenue of the government.
And it should also be noted that all these policy initiatives displayed by Chungsuk-wang indeed featured some probable influences from the contemporary governance of the Yuan imperial government as well. Emperor Jen-tsung was well known for his negation of his predecessor Wu-tsung and’s financial policies. He pursued a more tempered financial policy, and abandoned all kinds of artificial projects designed to raise the governmental income level, while trying to alleviate and mitigate several social problems that were left unattended by his predecessor's governance. Jen-tsung's stay in the reign almost overlapped with the early half of Chungsuk-wang's governance, so a probable relationship and a possible inspiration between the governance of those two leaders might have been in works. Then during the latter half of Chungsuk-wang's governance, the sitting emperor of the empire was Emperor T'aiting, who infamously supported Muslim merchants' activities in and out of the empire, and promoted the Yuan government's trade relationships with entities of financial and commercial potentials throughout both the inland and maritime silkroads. Chungsuk-wang's 5 year stay in Yuan during the early 1320s, and his later return visit to Yuan in the early 1330s when he was forced to temporarily relinquish the Goryeo reign to his son, overlapped with the period of T’aiting’s and his successor Wen-tsung's promotion of trade relationships, so he had the opportunity to observe all the proliferated investments and fierce retrieval of profits that were being conducted throughout the empire at the time. Acquired knowledge of the entire procedure involving inland and maritime trade and transactions with the West Asian Muslim world would have deeply inspired Chungsuk-wang, and must have been vastly informative for the king's new initiatives in the second phase of his reign.

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