淸陰 金尙憲의 疏箚 考察

Abstract

From King Seonjo to King Injo, Cheongeum Sanghyeon Kim was caught up in a political vortex in the Joseon dynasty as a bureaucratic literacy man, experiencing massacre of scholars of Imjin, Jeongyu, Jeongmyo, and Byeongja. His reputation in the late Joseon Dynasty included that he was a representative minister who rejected peace and he established base of sending an expedition to conquer the north which served as a country representative. Also, he was highly praised as his image of integrity, putting high value on moral obligations and loyalty. In addition, his writings and moral obligations won rave reviews from Donggyeo Jeongon and even Ching people admired him with great awe. The purpose of this study was to investigate Cheongeum’s appeals focusing on its overall condition and contents to explore real condition and recognition of the times through looking at the letters of correcting corruptness of the times (Sipyeoso) and that of begging (Ganjaengso). Total number of Cheongeum’s appeals is 140, created in the ratio of 5: 5 between appeals and simple form of appeals (Chaja). The period of creation was focused on 1624 when he was appointed as a chair of appeals; he strongly expressed his appeals to King directly in his appeals to fulfill his duty as a chair of appeals and his repeated appointment in various positions brought many letters of begging and appeals in general. He argued that the press was highly important to secure King’s legitimacy, to stabilize people’s livelihood, and to correct corruptness of the times. According to what he asserted, it was the press that could make communication clearly and effectively between king and servant. He believed the opening and closing could cause one nation failed by emphasizing good communication of the press. On top of that, he put a stress on implementing path of justice that could be used in common in addition to vertical communication of the press. What he suggested as a path of justice was employing a man of knowledge and wise, listening to plain speaking, and showing exemplary politics for the people. In spite of his idea of a path of justice, situation of the time was, paradoxically, too much biased by personal feeling to implement it. With regaining a fair path through effective communication in the press up and down, he believed negative effects of the politics could be renovated and people’s alienated mind would be recovered naturally, bringing people’s mind back; driving force of a nation is the mind of the people and the mind of the people is the mind of heaven. Fit into a pattern of appeals, Cheongeum spoke plainly the negative effects of politics he had experienced and sought to reflect them on politics for correctness. In this way, authority of legitimacy he believed would follow naturally and endow king to rule over the people from the heaven when king’s mind conformed the mind of the people.