동강 김우옹의 민본사상

Abstract

This article deals with Dong-Kang Kim U-Ong’s ‘Min-Bon’ ideology. He regarded ‘Myeong-Bun Ron’ and ‘Min-Bon Ron’ as the essence of the Confucian political ideas. The two values, however, tended to conflict with each other in real politics. Kim U-Ong tried to solve the problem thorough ‘Gun-Min-Il-Chae Ron,’ a theory that the monarch and the people are integrated into a single body. It assumes that the monarch and the people, just as the relationship between parents and their siblings, are unified into a single entity, thus allowing neither autocratic ruling over the people nor rebellion against the monarch. The development of this theory was a great progressive step in the history of political ideas of the sixteenth-century Chosun dynasty. During the time when Kim U-Ong was actively working, however, ‘Min-Bon’ politics had declined. That the people should be ruled by the monarch and the upper class was the prevailing political ideology. Recognizing serious problems in such political reality, Kim U-Ong called for ‘Sa-Gong’ and ‘Byeon-Tong,’ by which he believed the contemporary society could revive ‘Min-Bon’ politics. He urged that institutions damaging the life of the people be abolished or reformed, and instead, various administrative maneuvers be introduced for the benefits of the people. His voice for reform began to be loud after the Japanese invasion in the Im-Jin year. Although the reforms Kim U-Ong demanded were across the whole of political spheres, he paid a special attention to personnel administration and military system. The message he delivered to the contemporary society was that politics should be grounded upon ‘Min-Bon’ ideology, without which any reform would not be successful.