광해군대 초반 대일정책의 전개와 그 특징

Abstract

Examined in this article is the Joseon government’s policy of dealing with Japan in the early days of King Gwang’hae-gun’s reign, which essentially marked the beginning of the government’s Japan policy in the dynasty’s latter half period. The entire process of opening a channel for official communication, establishing an agenda for the policy and securing momentum for promoting that policy, is examined here in details. The Gwang'hae-gun regime agreed with Japan to sign on the Gi’yu-year agreement in 1609 and by doing so formed a platform for future Joseon-Japan diplomatic talks arranged through the Dae’ma-do/對馬島 island. Then, the Joseon government reinforced the principle of ‘banning’ Japanese envoys(倭使) from approaching the Joseon capital(“上京”), limiting the activities of the Japanese emissaries in Joseon territory to the Wae'gwan facility of the Dong’rae area. These actions of the Joseon government outlined the format for future diplomatic contacts with the Japanese in the dynasty's latter half period. At the time, when the Joseon people was facing Japanese presence in the south part of the Korean peninsula and the ‘Jurchen’ barbarians’ in the north(‘南倭北虜’), Gwang’hae-gun considered ‘maintaining relationships(‘接待’)’ with Japan and ‘protecting the country(‘守禦’)’ from the Jurchen threat as two top-level priorities for the Joseon defense. In order to do that, he had to establish Japan, which invaded Joseon for seven years in the 1590s, as a diplomatic partner to exchange talks with. He had to mitigate the anti-Japanese sentiment of the country’s population, and intermediate clashing opinions in the policy discussion process. In the meantime, in order to deal with problems surfacing everywhere, Gwang’hae-gun maintained a utilitarian stance of prioritizing the pursuit of amicable relationships, and not an ideological and principle-based one. It was quite a departure from the government’s policy of the late 17th century.