인조대 택당 이식의 관직생활과 현실인식

Yi Sik: His Government Career and Political Views on His Time

Yi Sik (hereafter “Taekdang”, his brush name) was born into a prominent family that stemmed from the Deoksu Yi clan that produced three Principal Academic Leaders (Daejehak). These were Yi Sik with two others being Yi Haeng, his great-great-grandfather, and Yi Dan ha, one of his sons. He had a difficult time when young. He had to search for a shelter to hide him with his family from the Imjin Waeran, the 7-year war between Korea and Japan ignited by the Japanese invasion in 1592, which broke out when he was just nine. When he was in his 30s, he distanced himself from the political world as a reaction against the monopolization of power on the part of the Northerners (Bugin), and those who sought to deprive Queen Mother Inmok of the title of Queen Consort. It was after the restoration of King Injo, when he was in his 40s, that he began a career in government. His service in the government, though, coincided with an intense period of turbulence marked by, in addition to the Restoration (1623), the Rebellion of Yi Gwal (1624), the two Manchu Invasions of Korea in 1627 (Jeongmyo Horan) and 1636 (Byeongja Horan). Taekdang began to play an active role in the political arena after 1623. His many ideas and main stance may be summarized as follows. Firstly, Taekdang maintained an impartial stance on the appearance of “the political factions” ( bungdang) that began to emerge as central players in the political arena of the Joseon dynasty, during the reign of King Seonjo. The factions were divided into two, the Easterners (Dongin) and the Westerners (Seoin), during King Seonjo's rule, with the first faction being further divided into the Northerners (Bugin) and the Southerners (Namin), according to the evolution of different political ideologies. It was the Northerners that held the reigns of government during King Gwanghaegun's rule but their power was handed over to the Westerners after King Injo took to throne. It seems that this transition of power had no influence on Taekdang's political views as he continued to serve the government according to his own beliefs. He firmly maintained that it was not an action to take by a “gentleman” ( gunja) to restrict himself to any one political faction. One may criticize such a position as not being progressive enough considering the social and political turbulence of the period, but the truth is that he was far from being a conservative who abhorred change. One important issue King Injo needed to make a prompt decision on, during this historic Ming Qing transitional period, was whose side he should be on. Unfortunately, however, the king failed to make a clear decision, or if he did, not promptly and systematically enough. This eventually led to the two Manchu Invasions and the shameful kowtow. What Taekdang did in this extraordinary situation was to urge the king to implement a full scale military reform project. The first Manchu invasion led him to believe that there would soon follow another major attack, and he maintained that Joseon needed to build up military forces via the introduction of a universal conscription system. At the same time, he stood by the supporters of a peaceful settlement when the Manchus invaded for a second time, and criticized the party who opposed a shameful peace negotiation by that the effort to defend a good cause without effective means would end in vain. It seems that Taekdang was clearly aware of the fact that reaching a peaceful compromise with the Manchus was the only solution available for Joseon and its inadequate defenses. He was, however, not an active supporter for negotiations regarding peace, such as Choe Myeong-gil, probably because he, as a Neo Confucianist whose world's view was formed on the basis of the teachings from Zhuzi, couldn't free himself from a duty to keep faith with Ming. This shows that Taekdang believed that reality was more important than a good cause and acted according to that belief.