Joseon diplomacy

Joseon diplomacy was the foreign policy of Joseon Dynasty of Korea from 1392 through 1910; and its theoretical and functional foundations were rooted in Neo-Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, institutions and philosophy.^[1]

This long-term, strategic policy of sadae diplomacy (serving the great) characterized the Joseon-Chinese relations in this period. This contrasts with Joseon's gyorin diplomacy (neighborly relations) in its relations with Japan and others.^[2] For example, envoys from the Ryūkyū Kingdom were received by Taejo of Joseon in 1392, 1394 and 1397. Siam sent an envoy to Taejo's court in 1393.^[3]

Taejo of Joseon established the "Kingdom of Great Joseon" in 1392-1393, and he founded the Joseon Dynasty which would retain power on the Korean peninsula for five hundred years. As an initial step, a diplomatic mission was dispatched to China and to Japan in 1402. Subsequent missions developed and nurtured the contacts and exchanges between these neighboring countries.

A diplomatic mission conventionally consisted of three envoys—the main envoy, the vice-envoy, and a document official. Also included were one or more official writers or recorders who created a detailed account of the mission.^[4]

In the 20th century, the Joseon Dynasty's bilateral relations were affected by the increasing numbers of international contacts which required adaptation and a new kind of diplomacy.^[5]

Although conventionally mislabeled as the "Hermit kingdom", Joseon's sophisticated foreign policy initiatives belie the aptness of this term.

List of Joseon diplomatic envoys

Recognition in the West

The historical significance of some of these scholar-bureaucrats were confirmed when their missions and their names were specifically mentioned in a widely distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.^[6]

In the West, early published accounts of the Joseon kingdom are not extensive, but they are found in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (published in Paris in 1832),^[7] and in Nihon Ōdai Ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work; and some of the diplomats names are also identified.

Notes

↑ Kang, Jae-eun et al. (2006). The Land of Scholars, p. 172.
↑ Kang, Etsuko H. (1997). Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, p. 49.
↑ Goodrich, L. Carrington. (1976). Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644 (明代名人傳), Vol. II, p. 1601.
↑ Walraven, Boudewign et al. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies, p. 362.
↑ Kang, Woong Joe. (2005). Struggle for Identity, pp. 38-78.
↑ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 313-326.
↑ Vos, Ken. "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1," p. 6.

References

Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003).
Goodrich, L. Carrington and Zhaoying Fang. (1976). Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644 (明代名人傳), Vol. I; Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644 (明代名人傳), Vol. II. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-03801-0; ISBN 978-0-231-03833-1; OCLC 1622199
(Korean) 한일관계사연구논집편찬위원회. (2005). 통신사・왜관과한일관계 (Han Il kwangyesa yŏngu nonjip, Vol. 6). 경인문화사. ISBN 978-89-499-0308-8.
Kang, Etsuko Hae-jin. (1997). Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Basingstoke, Hampshire; Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-17370-8; OCLC 243874305
Kang, Jae-eun and Suzanne Lee. (2006). The Land of Scholars : Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism. Paramus, New Jersey: Homa & Sekey Books. ISBN 978-1-931907-37-8; OCLC 60931394
Kang, Woong Joe. (2005). The Korean Struggle for International Identity in the Foreground of the Shufeldt Negotiation, 1866-1882. Latham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-3120-4; OCLC 238760185
Lee, Sang Oak and Duk-Soo Park. (1998). Perspectives on Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-9586526-6-7; OCLC 40261047
Palais, James B. (1995). Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyŏngwŏn and the late Chosŏn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-97455-2; OCLC 214839971
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Odai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.
Walraven, Boudewijn and Remco E. Breuker. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies; Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven. Leiden: CNWS Publications. ISBN 90-5789-153-0; OCLC 181625480
Wiwŏnhoe, Yunesŭkʻo Hanʼguk. (2004). Korean History: Discovery of Its Characteristics and Developments. Elizabeth, New Jersey: Hollym. ISBN 978-1-56591-177-2; OCLC 56107531

External links

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