1862년 三政策問에 따른 京外對策의 검토

Abstract

After the breakout of farmers uprising in the southern provinces in 1862, Cheol-Jong came to realize the importance of changing the Three Policies as a solution to the problem. In proposing the test system, he sought the interpretations not only of central bureaucrats, but from the regional governors, and scholars and public officials from the country over. The reason the scope of the selection had been so widened was that the problem was endemic to the nation as a whole, and there was a need to find out the extent of the actual national situation. Most likely, around the time of the uprising, central powers would have been to a certain extent aware of the discussions of corruptions of provincial governments with the nobles in their regions, and even regarding corrective processes. And in fact, the government went to considerable lengths for the implementation of the test inquiry, and into the selection process. Looking at the one hundred people thus selected, in terms of their status or social positions, they were comprised mostly of mid to lower-level bureaucrats, provincial officials, and scholars nationwide. That there were especially a large number of mid to low-level positions may be attributed, not only to the desire of the government to encompass as many of the bureaucrats and ordinary people, but also because the three policy test measures were attempted in a similar vein to the national public official testing system, so that high level officials would have been mutually excluded. Analyzing those thus duly qualified by their repective regions, it is almost similar in distribution to those who passed the public official testing system, probably in consideration of its implementation. As to age, there were a number of older individuals, and it was also noteworthy that no one really belonged to a family of power. This appears to be from higher level bureaucrats being able to forward their opinions apart from the three party inquiry, and the leaders of the major influential groups having used formalized channels of presenting opinions since it was an implementation procedure. These measures served as a good opportunity for learned scholars to particiate in government policy. Hwang Oh, Lee Seung-gyeong and such mention in their writings that this was the singular occasion through which they offered opinions on matters of national policy. It can be said to have served as a catalyst for when thoughts were shared on looking at the problems of three policies as a national concern for solution. From this point of view, the three policy review was a part of a policy for communication. However, examining the extant proposals for the three policy revision of the one hundred, it is to be quite unexpected that none had insisted on an aggressive corrective step.In the end, the Elimination of Grain Tax was a very aggressive measure at the core of the government's three policy amendment as detailed in the list of corrective actions, but such insistences were not to be found herein, and on the contrary, more were of the critical opinion of the elimination steps already being discussed centrally at the time. Then what is to have been the motive behind the selection of the three policy proposals in the first place? It would appear that there was actual value in garnering the opinions of the public, along with surveying the provincial situations, while serving to publicize the will of the government for change. In reality, the direction of remedies was aimed to progress against those holding real power. The extent of the adopted three policy amendments help us to understand their assessment of the three policy problem, and trends in their measures. Furthermore, it is viewed that they served as the basis for the government to implement the policy changes of the time, and went on to help promote a nation-wide mood for the adoption of three policy amendments.