근대 이전 한국과 동남아시아간 접촉에 대한 역사적 고찰

A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF CONTACTS BETWEEN KOREA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE PRE-MODERN TIME

  근대 이전 한국과 동남아간의 역사적 관계는 우르스 비테를리가 말하는 문화관계로 발전치 못하고 문화접촉의 차원에 머물렀다. 본 연구는 한국과 동남아간의 접촉이 오늘날 갈수록 다변화되고 증대되는 상황에서 양 지역간의 역사적인 문화적 교류를 조사하는 것이 필요하다는 인식에서 행해진 것이다. 본고는 무엇보다도 사료의 제한성으로 6세기 백제-동남아간 교류 가능성과 14세기 말-17세기 한국과 태국, 자바 및 베트남간의 접촉들을 연구 대상에 두었다. 주로 『日本書紀』를 바탕으로 분석된 백제-동남아 관계는 충분한 전거가 뒷받침되지 않은 추측의 차원에 머물러 있다. 이에 비해 14세기 말-17세기 한국과 태국, 자바 및 베트남간의 접촉들은 『高麗史』, 『朝鮮王朝實錄』, 『明史』, 李？光의 『芝峰集』, 鄭東愈의 『晝永編』 등 여러 사료들의 구체적인 기록들을 바탕으로 재구성된 것이다. 사료에 대한 비판적 태도를 근저에 두는 문헌학적 방법론에 입각한 본 연구는 『高麗史』와 『朝鮮王朝實錄』에 나타나 있는 14세기 말-15세기 초 한국과 태국 및 자바간의 관계를 사료의 기록을 그대로 받아들여 어떤 외교적 관계의 발전으로 해석하지 않고, 태국 및 중국의 다양한 사료들과의 비교를 통해 당시 태국과 자바를 근거지로 남중국해와 동중국해에서 활동하던 중국상인들의 무역이 한반도까지 확대된 것으로 본다. 한편 위의 접촉들이 그후 지속적인 무역관계나, 나아가서는 외교적 관계로 발전하지 못한 것은 당시 왜구들의 위험성과 무역적 수익성에 대한 기대의 결여라는 두 가지 요인에 기인시킨다. 주로 『朝鮮王朝實錄』의 기록을 바탕으로 조사한 16세기 말 임진왜란시 태국의 출병 의도는 남중국해 및 동중국해에서의 무역적 이해관계와 관련하여 해석되었다. 끝으로 17세기 조선-베트남 접촉들은 당시 두 나라가 각각 얼마나 “세계화”되어 있었는지를 보여준다.

  Compared with the commercial and diplomatic relations between China and Southeast Asia, or Japan and Southeast Asia on which much has been written, historical contacts between Korea and Southeast Asia have attracted little attention of historians. It is thus found necessary to view early interaction between Korea and Southeast Asia in its own light, particularly now that contacts between Korea and Southeast Asian countries have recently diversified and greatly increased. This study has been focused on the possibility of commercial interaction between the kingdom of Baekje and Southeast Asia in the sixth century and historical contacts between Korea, Thailand, Java and Vietnam from the end of the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. The reason for these temporal and thematic limitations is mostly related to the problem of availability of relevant primary sources. Relations between the kingdom of Baekje and Southeast Asia, which are analysed mainly on the basis of some records in the Japanese Nihon Shoki, remain an assumption not supported by sufficient historical documentation. Historical contacts between Korea, Thailand, Java and Vietnam from the end of the fourteenth to the seventeenth century are, on the contrary, reconstructed on the basis of concrete records from various sources such as Kory？se, Chos？n wangjo shillok, Ming shi, Chibong jip of Yi Su-kwang, and Chuy？ng phy？n of Ch？ng Tong-yu. This study, which attempts to subject the relevant historical sources to a philological analysis, does not interpret contacts between Korea, Thailand and Java from the end of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century (recorded in the Kory？se and the Chohs？n wangjo shillk) as having developed into diplomatic relations. Rather, it examines the possibility of the "envoys," who came to Koryo and Chosun from the end of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century, having been not diplomatic delegates dispatched by the Thai court and the Java court but Ayutthaya - and Java - based overseas Chinese merchants who passed themselves as such, and the possibility of the party of envoys sent to Thailand by the Chosun government having not been given audience by the Thai court. Two reasons are suggested to explain why the contacts did not develop into a long-lasting commercial or diplomatic relations. Firstly, there was the danger of Japanese pirates on the sea route from Nanyang to Korea. Secondly, Chinese merchants may not have found any profitability in a trade venture to Korea. This study also analyzes the suggestion of the Ayutthaya government to the Ming court that the Thai should attack from behind with naval forces the Japanese, who invaded Chosun and threatened China in the late sixteenth century, and attributes it to the commercial interest of Thailand in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Finally, contacts between Korea and Vietnam during the seventeenth century are examined. In particular, it compares the stories of the Vietnamese merchants who were deprived of their cargoes and killed by Chosun officials after they had drifted to Cheju Island in the early seventeenth century with those of over 20 people from Cheju Island who came back to their home through the courtesy of the Vietnamese after they had drifted to Vietnam because of a storm.