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See the dynamics of Northeast Asia in history

A complete understanding of the relationship between Korea and China is essential to observing the changes in the situation in Northeast Asia today and to predict a constructive future in which countries in the region recognize and respect each other. As it is known, the colonial historiography formed during the Japanese colonial period emphasized external impacts in the relationship with China in Korean history, excluded internal power, and highlighted stagnation and heteronomy. In particular, the toadyism theory, armed with the paradigm of domination and subordination, was the backbone of distorting not only the Korean-Chinese relations before the 19th century but also the overall foreign relations of Korean history. Since liberation, Korean academia has been responding to colonial history by accumulating research on what the internal power of Korean history is. In the case of the study on foreign relations in the Joseon Dynasty, it was noted that there were multilateral complexities and multi-layeredness in the mechanism in which the order of Northeast Asia interacted. This study can be evaluated as an important achievement of this study by pointing out the error of colonial historiography based on reductionism to typicalize Joseon's foreign policy as 'diplomacy to serve a big country' or 'tribute system'.

The most important thing for the advancement of the study of foreign relations history is to build historical data. The data on the multidimensional and multi-layered relationship between forms of government in Northeast Asia are very diverse. The systematic and thematical arrangement of these materials will be a work to solidify the foundation of deepening research that can look more broadly and specifically at the interaction of Northeast Asian dynamics at that time.

NAHF has been collecting diplomatic documents from the Joseon Dynasty since the Pyeongja horan, such as 『the Korean translation 'Dongmoon hwigo』' and 『the Korean translation 'Cheonggye-JoongIlHan-Guangyesaryo'』. 『Transediting 'Sadaemungwe'』, which has now been published, deals with the external relations of Joseon for about half a century before the Pyeongja horan, including the Imjin war. 『Sadaemungwe is a record of diplomatic documents between 1593 and 1608, a copy of diplomatic documents written in Seungmunwon, and diplomatic documents sent from Myung, Japan, Jianzhou Jurchen, and Ryuku. This is originally 54 volumes, but now there are 23 volumes. That is not to say, the amount of documents left is small. There are a total of 1,041 documents left, which is also a very large amount.

Foreign relations in Joseon Dynasty and Korean translation of Sadaemungwe

So, how is 『Sadaemungwe』 being utilized? Japanese scholars during the Japanese colonial period ignored the Imjin war related data more than half of the total amount of 『Sadaemungwe』, and highlighted only the materials exchanged by Joseon and Jianzhou Jurchen in order to rationalize Man-Seon Sagwan(滿鮮史觀), a subtype of Colonialist Historography(植民史觀).

The Change of International Order in Northeast Asia and Foreign Relations of Joseon

First, there are a lot of documents in 『Sadaemungwe』 that contain the sending and receiving contents as a set. Moreover, both the text of the sender or the receiving side are often composed of the format of exposing all the processes of sending, checking, and making decisions from the government office to the other party. The text on the outgoing side contains how the necessity and urgency of the discussion issue were raised, which line was dealt with, and as a result, which request was delivered to the receiving side, and how the receiving side should take action when necessary. Generally, the text of the receiving side was written according to the form of replying which department the request of the sending side was delivered to the inside and which measures were implemented. Therefore, it is advantageous to examine how the Joseon and the other countries have established logic, set agenda, and sought consensus on one issue from both sides.

Another thing to note is that there are documents that can accurately understand when and how Joseon collected the latest information and how it integrated into the logic that is favorable to its own country. This is important in that it can be clarified in detail that information grasping and collecting in foreign relations was not only a confirmation or delivery of certain facts, but also a major mechanism mobilized by diplomatic forces to strengthen the position and logic of Joseon. Because Joseon was not confined to ideology or follow-up of subordinate relations while accepting the order centered on Ming Dynasty in full. Therefore, we can provide clues through 『Sadaemungwe』 that Joseon pursued a strategy of combining diplomatic rehetoric and realistic diplomacy as needed. 『Sadaemungwe』 shows how to deal with the two diplomatic issues above. The attention to this is essential in understanding that the principle of Joseon's survival strategy in international relations was 'security of its own country', and also in examining the interactivity, strategicity and rationality in order in Northeast Asia at that time.

The translation and application of 『Sadaemungwe』 will not only help to more structurally inspect the diplomacy, military and defense policies in Northeast Asia after the Imjin war, but also help to expand the study that reveals that the relationship between Northeast Asian forces has developed complex and multi-layered according to their interactions. In other words, NAHF's 『Sadaemungwe』 Korean translation project can provide constructive alternatives to the distortion of the truth of colonial history that led Korea's foreign relations history (including Joseon) before the 19th century to subordination or adjustment in the existing composition of ‘China/Zhnghuá/Han-centered regional order’. Furthermore, I believe that it will become a meaningful academic publication in expanding the scope of research on international relations in Northeast Asia.