Slavery in Korea
There is a long history of slavery in Korea, although the practice in modern-day South Korea is now illegal.
Contents
History of slavery in Korea[edit]
Slavery in Korea has existed since before the Silla period (approximately 2,000 years ago).[1][2][3] Slavery went into decline around the 10th century, but came back in the late Koryo period (when Korea also experienced a number of slave rebellions).[1] The slave caste, known as nobi (also described as serfs[4]), was quite large. In 1690 nobi were estimated to account for over a third (37%) of the Korean society,[5] (though in those centuries it might have varied widely between that number and as low as 10%[1]) and slavery has been described as "very important in medieval Korea, probably more important than in any other East Asian country".[6] Population growth,[6] numerous escaped slaves,[1] and changes to the agricultural economy led to the decline in the number of nobi to about 1.5% by 1858.[5] A policy of gradual emancipation was put in place in 1775,[6] and starting in 1801, the government begun freeing its own slaves.[1] The hereditary nobi system was abolished around 1886[1] or 1887,[5] (sources vary on specific date) and the rest of the nobi system was abolished with the Gabo Reform of 1894[7] or in 1895[1] (again, sources vary). However, slavery did not disappear in Korea until 1930, during Imperial Japanese rule.[2][8]
During the Japanese occupation of Korea around World War II, some Koreans were used in forced labor by the Japanese, in conditions which have been compared to slavery.[8][9] These included women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII, known as comfort women.[8][9]
Modern slavery in Korea[edit]
Although slavery is now de jure illegal in all countries,[10][11] de facto practices akin to it continue today in many places throughout the world.[12][13][14][15]
Slavery in South Korea[edit]
Some instances of labor abuse have been compared in recent media reports to slavery, particularly with regards to employment of people with disabilities on South Korean salt farms.[16][17][18]
In terms of people in modern slavery in absolute numbers South Korea ranked 128th in the 2014 Global Slavery Index, with some 93,700 people estimated to be enslaved.[19]
Slavery in North Korea[edit]
A United Nations report listed slavery among the crimes against humanity occurring in North Korea.[20]
North Korea ranked 63rd in the 2014 Global Slavery Index, with some 108,200 people estimated to be enslaved.[19]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g Junius P. Rodriguez (1 January 1997). The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery. ABC-CLIO. pp. 392–393. ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7.
- ^ a b Prem Sunder (10 August 2010). Caste,Class and Society. Pinnacle Technology. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-61820-051-8.
- ^ Andrea L. Stanton; Edward Ramsamy; Peter J. Seybolt; Carolyn M. Elliott (5 January 2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-4522-6662-6.
- ^ Bok Rae Kim (23 November 2004). "Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery". In Gwyn Campbell. Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-135-75917-9.
- ^ a b c Bok Rae Kim (23 November 2004). "Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery". In Gwyn Campbell. Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-135-75917-9.
- ^ a b c Martin A. Klein (4 September 2014). Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-8108-7528-9.
- ^ Korean History: Discovery of Its Characteristics and Developments. Hollym. 1 January 2004. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-56591-177-2.
- ^ a b c Junius P. Rodriguez (1 January 1997). The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery. ABC-CLIO. p. 393. ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7.
- ^ a b Helen Tierney (1 January 1999). Women's Studies Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-313-31071-3.
- ^ Kevin Bales (2004). New Slavery: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-85109-815-6.
- ^ Shelley K. White; Jonathan M. White; Kathleen Odell Korgen (27 May 2014). Sociologists in Action on Inequalities: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. SAGE Publications. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4833-1147-0.
- ^ Smith, Alexander (17 October 2013). "30 million people still live in slavery, human rights group says". NBC News. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ Kelly, Annie (3 April 2013). "Modern-day slavery: an explainer". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ "Ethics – Slavery: Modern Slavery". BBC. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ Aziz, Omer; Hussain, Murtaza (5 January 2014). "Qatar's Showcase of Shame". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ "The islands of abuse: Inside South Korea's slave farms for the disabled". The Independent. 2 January 2015.
- ^ "Former South Korean Salt Slave Describes 'Living Hell' He Endured Before His Escape". Business Insider. 2 January 2015.
- ^ Foster Klug, Associated Press (2 January 2015). "Modern day slavery alive in salt farms on small islands off South Korea". National Post.
- ^ a b "Korea ranks 49th in Global Slavery Index". Korea Herald. 2014-11-20.
- ^ "UN uncovers torture, rape and slavery in North Korea". The Times. 15 February 2014.
Further reading[edit]
- Ellen Salem (1978). Slavery in Medieval Korea. Columbia University., PhD dissertation
- Ellen J. Kim (1991). The Enduring Institution: A Case Study of Slavery in Traditional Korea. Harvard University., A.B. Thesis
- Hagen Koo (1993). State and Society in Contemporary Korea. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8106-6.
- Palais, James B. (1984). "Slavery and Slave Society in the Koryŏ Period". Journal of Korean Studies 5 (1): 173–190. doi:10.1353/jks.1984.0006.
- Rhee, Young-hoon; Yang, Donghyu. "Korean Nobi in American Mirror: Yi Dynasty Coerced Labor in Comparison to the Slavery in the Antebellum Southern United States". Working Paper Series. Institute of Economic Research, Seoul National University.
- Lee In-Cheol (March 2003). 한국 고대사회에서 노비와 노비노동의 역할 [Slave and the Role of Slave Labor in the Ancient Korea]. The Journal of Korean Ancient History (in Korean) (Society for Korean Ancient History) 29.
- Vinton, C. C. "Slavery and Feudalism in Korea," Korean Repository, II (1895), 366–372
External links[edit]
- Nobi: Rescuing the Nation from Slavery
- Mark A. Peterson, Korean Slavery