Korean Job Discussion Forums

dbee · Joined: 29 Dec 2004 Location: korea

I was having an interesting conversation with a Korean (ex - Korean Historian) and she told me some interesting facts about the role and extent of slavery in Korean society.

Did you know for instance that at the time of the Japanese invasion 1595, almost one third of Koreans were slaves. Indentured to other Koreans who were their masters. The practise of slavery was outlawed around 1800 but continued unabated up until the japanese invasion at the start of the last century.

Slavery continued even after the Japanese left after world war II, but it was less common and mostly confined to the countryside. The practise didn't actually die out completely until after the Korean war ... only 50 or so years ago !!!!

I wonder what impact this history has on modern Korean society ?

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

perhaps people in the 7-11 not telling overbearing customers to *beep* off like they do back home?

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

dbee: Do you know what an indentured servant is? How about a serf?

In 1595 most of the population of Europe lived in what modern society would consider to be a form a bondage or slavery.

What, by your definition, is a slave.

itaewonguy · Joined: 25 Mar 2003

there are more slaves today than in the African slave trade!

there will always be slaves!
we are all kinda slaves to the governments too.. in a way..

chiaa · Joined: 23 Aug 2003

dbee · Joined: 29 Dec 2004 Location: korea

panthermodern said ...

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

I am not attacking you dbee but "slavery" of some sort exists everywhere and at all times.

It was not until the plagues had killed off a large percentage of the European population was unskilled labour valuable enough to be actually be paid for.

One must remember that the insitution of slavery is more expensive to maintain and draining on any economy on an economy then a proletariat working at subistant wages.

Slaves are an expence which need both to be fed, housed and guarded if you intend them to do any profitable and productive labor while a proletariat is not an additional market but also self regulating and subsiting entity.

Slaves seek to escape through flight while the proletariat seeks to escape through advancement or distration.

My basic point being that Korean History is far from unique.

dbee · Joined: 29 Dec 2004 Location: korea

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

Ironic, considering the fact that the majority of Koreans claims noble ancestry (an irony in itself since Koreans hated the yangban class less than 100 years ago). I've read that some Korean historians explain this phenomenon by saying that the yangban would routinely give their names to their prefered servants.

rok_the-boat · Joined: 24 Jan 2004

Think about this:

English working class man - if he earns 100 pounds a week how much will he get after tax? Suppose he drinks, smokes, and drives a car - income tax is 25% (might be a bit less), tax on alcohol is about 80%, tax on petrol is about the same, as is that on cigarettes ... hell most of his money is taken in tax. And then there is a 17.5% VAT on just about everything he buys in shops. How much free money does a man really have in today's /modern/ society? In the UK at least, we are taxed A LOT - so much in fact, we may almost be slaves, or at least, heavily indentured. In a tax sense, I think Korea is way more sensible.

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I am probably a little off on the exact numbers, but the point remains.

Universalis · Joined: 17 Nov 2003 Location: Seoul

dbee,

Just ignore PM... the issue of slavery in Korea is an interesting topic that rarely comes up. It is worth discussing... whether or not it is unique to Korea.

Back when I was a student at Yonsei, I went to a lecture there given by one of the top "foreign" Korean historians, James Palais, on the issue of slavery in Korea. I forget the details, but he did make clear that the ruling elite in Korea has very good reasons to try to cover-up the matter.

Brian

dbee · Joined: 29 Dec 2004 Location: korea

yes but there is still a HUGE difference between an actual slave and an apparent 'economic slave'.

If you are an actual slave you have none of the rights above, drive a car, drink in a bar, nor do you have freedom of expression, the right to own property, freedom of religion, freedom of association, but even more... than that. You are actually owned by your master and can be bought and sold as such. And your children will be born into slavery, basically you are next to the livestock in terms of social position.

Such you can make a comparison between two for arguments sake. But to be an actual slave is a completely different thing (if you ask me!!).

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

ulsanchris · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: take a wild guess

If I remember right the Japanese abolished the rank class system, after the japanese occupation a lot of koreans came up with forged family histories.

Korea had a very strict class system. Pretty much the only movement between classes was down. for the lowest classes that went into debt slavery is what waited for them. The west had a class system as well but it had more flexability. Especially since the start of the industrial age. The koreans who were in charge at that time didn't even want the industrial revolution to happen in Korea.

Also I think one important difference between Asia and the west is that we had/have a philosphy in which that all men are born equal which was used to fight slavery and class inequality. This was completely foreign to confusian based korea.

taobenli · Joined: 26 Apr 2004

I'm in a class with James Palais now. We haven't gotten as far as Choson in the class yet, but yes, slavery in Korea is interesting stuff. More scholars have studied it in recent years, which is good to see- the subject is too often used to either justify the way Korea is, or to attack the Korean government on an uninformed and emotional level. Level-headedness is needed.

taobenli