[Viewpoint] The Fragrance of Seowon

Cho Hee-jin, Chief Attorney at Dambak Law Firm

Last weekend, I canceled plans to visit two Seowon in the Yeongnam region due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area. Early last year, after hearing that nine Seowon in Korea were inscribed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites, I had gathered a few people with the same intention, so the cancellation was especially disappointing. Seowon were private educational institutions during the mid-Joseon period where local scholars trained their disciples. Unlike aiming solely for passing the state examination, they served as a spiritual foundation of Joseon by honoring Confucian sages (ancestral rites) and cultivating character, and can be seen as the prototype of modern private schools. Until now, my image of Seowon had been quite negative: strongholds of factional strife and political turmoil, including historical purges. How many problems must there have been for Daewon-gun to issue the 'Seowon Abolition Order'? However, if the role and function of Seowon had been only that, they would not have been inscribed as World Cultural Heritage.

The most important mission of Seowon was to produce intellectuals of the time. The role of intellectuals is important in any era and country. Intellectuals reflect on how the world works, diagnose how it should progress, and persuade others to act accordingly. The scholars produced by Seowon regarded petitioning the king as an important duty and virtue. A representative example is Yulgok Yi I’s 'Six Proposals for National Reform' advocating the training of 100,000 soldiers before the Imjin War. There were even petitions called jibusangso (持斧上疏), where petitioners brought an axe and asked to be beheaded if their advice was not accepted, showing the urgency and gravity of their petitions.

Maninso (萬人疏) were collective petitions signed by up to ten thousand scholars, with the famous 'Yeongnam Maninso' of 1881 signed by over 10,000 Yeongnam scholars. The Joseon institutions responsible for public opinion were the Samsa (三司): Saheonbu, Saganwon, and Hongmungwan. Among these, Saheonbu and Saganwon were called Yangsa (兩司), and when they petitioned together, it was called Yangsa Hapgye (兩司合啓). If the king ignored their impeachment, Hongmungwan would join in, and when all three petitioned together, the king could never ignore it.

Recently, a petition titled 'Seven Proposals for National Reform' posted by an ordinary citizen named 'Jinin (塵人), Joeunsan' on the Blue House petition board caused a great stir. Although many petitions criticizing the government have been submitted, this is perhaps the first to have such a widespread impact across all ages and social statuses in the media. The content, form, and style resembled the petitions of Joseon scholars, possibly stirring a sentiment embedded in the national DNA.

Coincidentally, the government and ruling party have been relentlessly attacking the Prosecutor General and the Chairperson of the Board of Audit and Inspection?heads of institutions corresponding to the Samsa that checked royal power in Joseon?regarding their work. Just recently, these two leaders were praised as rare figures capable of independent and strict law enforcement, but now, as if that never happened, the ruling party’s offensive against these institutions performing their proper roles against the living power shows no sign of stopping. This is not about who is right or wrong. History will reveal that. It is not wrong for someone’s opinion to be rejected. What is shameful is that such voices and cries did not exist in the era.

Debate and dispute are not to be blamed. The bigger problem is preventing voices from being raised at all or trying to conceal the fact that they were raised. Even acknowledging the factional politics’ harm to Seowon, it is admirable?almost miraculous?that the intellectuals they produced could raise their voices in a harsh environment where survival was difficult. The spirit of Joseon scholars who petitioned the king, unable to stand by as the country faced national crisis like a candle in the wind, is what we need today. I hope the fragrance of Seowon will permeate into our present in a new form.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.