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- P-ISSN 2671-8197
- E-ISSN 2733-936X
- KOREAN
- P-ISSN2671-8197
- E-ISSN2733-936X
- KCI
Article Detail
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Bureaucratic Crimes and the Boundary between the Public and the Private in Chosŏn Korea: The Political Discourse of Kongjoe
Korean Studies Quarterly / Korean Studies Quarterly, (P)2671-8197; (E)2733-936X
2025, v.48 no.4, pp.445-478
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H.
(2025). Bureaucratic Crimes and the Boundary between the Public and the Private in Chosŏn Korea: The Political Discourse of Kongjoe. , 48(4), 445-478.
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Abstract
This study investigates how the distinction between Kongjoe (公罪, public wrongdoing) and Sajoe (私罪, private wrongdoing) in the adjudication of bureaucratic crimes in Chosŏn Korea functioned not simply as a procedural or legal device but also as a political language and a recurrent source of controversy. In a hierarchical society, officials enjoyed procedural privileges that were unavailable to commoners, and the classification of misconduct as Kongjoe often exempted them from criminal liability. Previous scholarship research has illuminated revealed the intellectual origins of this distinction in Confucian thought and its legal application, as well as its increasing complexity in the late Chosŏn period. Building on this foundation, this study analyzes how kongjoe was mobilized rhetorically in political disputes, how its ambiguous criteria generated repeated contention, and how its application frequently operated as a mechanism of privilege for highranking officials. By the nineteenth century, however, such debates had largely disappeared as kongjoe became institutionalized as a means of mitigating the administrative responsibility of local magistrates. This transformation signals a shift in the perception of bureaucratic crime and anticipates the modern differentiation between judicial punishment and administrative accountability.
- keywords
- 조선시대, 관료 범죄, 공죄, 사죄, 정치적 담론, Chosŏn Korea, bureaucratic crime, kongjoe(public wrongdoing), sajoe(private wrongdoing), political, discourse
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