Chapter 12 - Slavery in Medieval Korea

Summary

The period Korea experienced medieval times in terms of slavery differs from that of Western Europe. From a diachronic view of the development of Korean civilization, the period of medieval Europe corresponds to a time in Korea when slavery was not yet fully developed. With emphasis on the distinctive features of slavery in traditional Korea, this chapter sums up its long-term evolution to provide a panorama of Korean slavery, including its early stage to 1100s, proliferation in the 1200s-1400s, zenith in the 1500s-1700s, and slow decline in the 1700s-1800s, among others. Many a Korean slave can be characterized as bond-tenants, bond-debtors, and land/slave owners. As long as the payment was made in the form of either rent or ransom, the owner did not interfere in the slaves’ lives. For this reason, some slaves emerged from poverty and could even accumulate wealth enough to purchase land and slaves, while the great majority still lived in poverty. Slavery in steady decline in the 1700s was the product of the socioeconomic situation in which slaves began to fall in price because of a shortage of land relative to the population.