正祖 연간과 『日省錄』을 향한 ‘下而上’의 역사 탐구

Abstract

Now that a Korean translation of the parts of the Ilseong rok pertaining to King Jeongjo is now available to scholars, Korean historians should consider conducting cross-disciplinary studies with their colleagues. The author employs a “counter-temporal” (下而上) approach which is adapted from the idea of Jeong Yagyong. This approach views the history of the Joseon period from the contemporary perspective of social issues; this is in contrast to the conventional research tendency of Korean historiography, which focuses on the historical past and its change over time. Specifically, the author proposes to project principles and values reflected in the current ROK constitution into the historical study of King Jongjo's era and its records, such as the Ilseong rok. This paper deals with two main issues. The first is the concept of sovereignty. Many incidents and institutes during the Joseon period, including the royal household, queen mothers, and the King Jeongjo’s policies begin to show entirely new aspects when the modern concept of sovereignty is applied to the past. The second is the principle of military neutrality. Both the Joseon state and society kept military men from intervening politically to an extent that was rarely accomplished previously in the pre-modern era. King Jeongjo's military policies, which had been characterized by their progressiveness, can be interpreted anew as a retreat from the military’s political neutrality. Risks and problems inevitably arise when we consider contemporary issues in the historical past. Still, for historians who stand in the present and look into the previous world, it is their duty to be alert to the risks of distortion and misunderstanding. King Jeongjo's reign made great political and cultural changes and yielded vast numbers of historical records incomparable to those of any other period. The adoption of the counter-temporal method in the study of Korean history will reward us with a lot of new information and interpretations, especially with regard to King Jeongjo's reign and its records.