世宗代의 政治背景과 政治

Abstract

King Sejong was born in 1397 as the third son of first King Taeso(太祖). After being recruited as the crown prince, he became the fourth king of Chosun dynasty in 1418 and died 1450. Being intelligent and sincere and having a great passion on the study, a strong will, a great knowledge in politics, he had the quality of a Great King. Although Sejong suffered from the diabetes and the paralysis and from the death of his wife and several sons at the later part of his life, he overcame the difficulty and made his best to do well politics. So he restored the national political stability and improved greatly the living standard of the people. He governed all governmental affairs by directing the Six Ministeries(六曹) which shared the state's affairs from first year to 17th year of his reign. After 18th year, he treated state affairs by directing the Euijungbu(議政府) directly or indirectly through his crown prince. By forming state personnel and assigning the right man in the right place for the purpose of helping them deploy their capacity, he achieved a synthesis of all state institutions such as the confucianism ceremony and developed greatly the learning of musics, astrology and medicine. . He created the Hangul, executed the comprehensive welfare politics. By forming the Hangkyo(provincial school) and making the exterior officials to work for the long period, he developed the culture of the low class people as well as improving the overall level of the people. He made the habitants of the southern part of the country to move forwards the regions newly exploited by exploiting the 4 counties(四郡) and 6 defense centers(六鎭) which extended our frontier to the Yalu River and Duman river. So he established a peaceful system through the favourable relationship with the Ming and the Japan dynasty. In brief, after achieving the talent as the basic attitude of king for only the people, based upon the excellent character and knowledge, he improved the living level of the people and established the strong ground for the development of the Chosun dynasty as well as making the royal authority stable. These achievements became the basis of the present korean culture and territory.