A Study on the Ideological Background of Ubok Jeong Kyung-se's (鄭經世) Governing Theory: Focusing on the Awareness of “Inequity (不均)” and the Sajoksuporon (士族收布論)

This article investigates Jeong Kyung-se's (鄭經世) Governing Theory and its ideological background. He was influenced by his mentor Ryu Seong-ryong (柳成龍) and the “inequity (不均)” issues during the ‘gongmuljakmi (貢物作米)’ system in the Imjin War (Japanese invasions of Korea). Jeong Kyung-se's Governing Theory covered political administration and institutional reforms, especially the Sajoksuporon (士族收布論) proposed after the Jeongmyo War (First Manchu Invasion) to address the military threats posed by the Later Jin (Qing dynasty) and promote equitable labor distribution (Gyunyeok, 均役). Especially, the abolition of the Naesusa (內需司) presented as a precondition during this process was a measure to limit the king's private power. This, like the Sajoksuporon, was a mechanism to resolve inequity (不均), an ideal goal of Confucian political thought. The above-mentioned actions marked the starting point for later institutional discussions related to Gyunyeok and represented the first attempt to limit even the monarch's private power, positioning Jeong Kyung-se as a pioneering figure in the trend of Governing Theory in the late Joseon period. Jeong Kyung-se's ideas influenced both his faction, the Nam-in (南人), and the Seo-in (西人), significantly impacting Korea's political landscape and the evolution of political thought.