서유견문에 나타난 유길준의 헌법사상에 관한 소고

Abstract

“Observation on Travels in the West” written by reformist politician Yu Kil-chun is not just a traveler’s journal but an introductory guide to Western systems and civilization. Yu learned and was well acquainted with the pragmatic academics of Confucianism, the Chinese modernization concept of strengthening the country by learning from the West, the Japanese enlightenment movement and idea of enhancing national prosperity and military power, and American-style democracy. Afterwards, he traveled to Europe to observe advanced civilizations there. To enlighten the commoners of the Joseon Dynasty into the “people” of a modern state, Yu wrote “Observation on Travels in the West” by taking the painful path of suffering. This thesis looks into the discussions of the natural rights of man, sovereignty, and government system within the constitutional abstraction shown in Yu’s work. On fundamental human rights, he fully adopted the concept of the natural rights of man, which was the notion of rights for modern people in the West. He also classified sovereignty into domestic and foreign sovereignty and explained both concepts. Yu claimed the “dual (or inconsistency) system,” which was a new theory on foreign sovereignty, to explain the state of the Joseon Dynasty at the time. Specifically, he understood the relationship between Joseon and China as “a country of tributary payment,” but simultaneously asserted that Joseon was an independent nation to protect its interests. On the government system, Yu compared the political system of each country and concluded that a system in which both the king and the people rule is the best model. Among the many countries he mentioned, he named England as having the best political system. Unless a revolutionary idea within historical and situational limits could have been brought up, it would have been difficult to promote a constitutional parliamentary monarchy in Korea because it could have damaged the king’s authority under the absolute monarchy system. Yu was clearly a pioneer who was the first Korean to experience the achievements of Western modernization and reflect them in the reformation process of his motherland. His “Observations on Travels in the West” was also the foundation of the 1894 Reformation(갑오경장). As insightful as it was, Yu’s work unfortunately had little influence on Korean society at the time due to a social atmosphere reluctant to embrace and adopt Western knowledge. Despite the shortcomings of “Observations on Travels in the West” as a manual to transform Joseon into a people's nation at a time when it was imperative to stop invasions by imperial powers and establish a modern nation, the book was undoubtedly a leading guide that introduced Western civilization, and stressed the necessity for and methods of modernization.