대동법의 성립에서 김육의 역할

Abstract

As Ching Young Choe said, this law was the conscious response of many reformists against the total national crisis, even though Taedongpŏp (known as the Uniform Land Tax Law) costed long time for its legislation. Among the response, the role of Kim Yuk was one of the most important things. This is proved by the fact that the contemporary and following figures attributed the legislation of Taedongpŏp to him. The study on the Kim Yuk comes near to the direct understanding how this law could be established breaking through so many political obstacles. This paper focused on the political role of Kim Yuk in establishing the Taedongpŏp. Kim Yuk was not the smartest theorist to totally design the Taedongpŏp. He was not the most expert official in enacting this law either. And he also was not the sarim(士林) who was full of the Confucian principles. His political role in the legislation of Taedongpŏp, however, was possible on the ground that he included the theoretical understanding on tributary system, working-level understanding on the legislation of Taedongpŏp, which was based on his long official experiences, the flexible diplomatic approaches on Ching China, and Confucian principle of sarim, which basically was maintained for his all life. These several elements were the his own conditions for his political role toward the reform. On the basis of these elements, he arranged the working-level official, who had been selected by him, to the important official posts for driving the reform. And then, he protected them against strong political draft. These elements also enabled him to win king’s absolute confidence. As he said, this confidence was the most important, and final element for the legislation of Taedongpŏp.