丙寅洋擾 전후 申櫶의 대내인식과 개혁론

Abstract

The perceptions of the domestic and international situations, as well as the responses developed by the intellectuals and government officials of Joseon during the mid-19th century, were mainly based on the notion of Wijeongcheoksaron(爲政斥邪論, doctrine of defending orthodoxy and rejecting heterodoxy). That being said, during the process of establishing countermeasures as part of efforts to maintain the system amidst the perceived international crisis, some intellectuals came to accept and further build upon the Qing dynasty’s Theory of Naval Defense (海防論). Sin Heon (1811-1884) can be regarded as one of those individuals who advocated the theory of Naval Defense. This study analyzes Sin Heon's appeal to the king prepared in the 1860s and seeks to prove that Sin’s perceptions of the domestic situation and his approach to the necessary countermeasures were greatly altered by the French Invasion of Kanghwa Island in 1866 (Byeonginyangyo). As late as 1862, Sin Heon regarded the ongoing peasant struggles as a temporary form of turbulence that did not warrant the bringing to an end of the hwangok (grain loan) system. He also called for the establishment of a reserve army system (minbo) as a means to control the public. However, the French Invasion of Kanghwa Island in 1866 spurred Sin to call for reforms that included the making of concrete concessions toward the ruled class, and this despite the comparative drop in the intensity and frequency of peasant struggles. By this point, Sin Heon’s reform theory included not only the reform of three main sources of state revenue (samjeong), but also a form of social management that revolved around the enhancement of economic power. Up until the early 1860s, Sin Heon’s perceptions of the domestic situation and his response were fundamentally the same as that exhibited by those who supported the doctrine of defending orthodoxy and rejecting heterodoxy. However, his perceptions became more practical during the process that saw Joseon engage in military confrontations with the western powers. This implies that the matter of the naval defense of Joseon was one that was not simply limited to technical discussions on the defense of the nation against foreign invasion, but was also deeply related to the discussion of social reforms. In addition, this also implies that the process through which Joseon was integrated into the capitalist system was not a passive one, but rather, based on the social demands for reform emanating from the public, was carried out as part of efforts to resolve the social contradictions inherent in traditional society.