226 SOCIAL REFORMPOST-TMJIN CHANGES IN THE TREATMENT OF SLAVESMilitary service: The Sog'o UnitsIn 1298 King Ch'ungnyol stated that ever since ancient times the slaves of yang-
ban never were responsible for public service or miscellaneous levies because
their responsibilities were kept separate from those owed by their masters. Nev-
ertheless, because all the men of good status had been absorbed or taken over
by powerful families and no one was left to perform labor service for the state,
the slaves of yangban were performing the labor service of the commoner males
in their place. The king prohibited the practice.^74 In short, all private slaves were
exempted from labor service during the early Koryo dynasty, while official slaves
were subject to a variety oflabor service obligations, including military serviceJ5
The exemption of slaves from military service was ignored. however, in times
of national emergency. In 1378 a unit of auxiliary soldiers (p Deh 'unggun) was
created because of the poor condition of the regular troops (puhyong), and in
the early Choson period, manumitted slaves and sons of yangban officials and
their slave concubines were assigned to it. The auxiliaries were expanded in 1415
to offset the shortage of commoners produced by a rise in the proportion of slaves
in the population.^76
Because Sejong banned intermarriage between men of good status and slave
women in 1432, there could be no legal recruitment of offspring of such unions
born after that date into the auxiliaries, but the law was not enforced. Offspring
of officials and slave concubines continued to be enrolled in the auxiliaries par-
ticularly after the 1450s, and in 1456 the sons of officials and kisaeng (female
entertainers) were admitted to the auxiliaries for the first time. Under King Sejo,
other special units, the Changyongdae and Man'gangdae established in 1459 and
1462, respectively, also recruited official and private slaves. who were manu-
mitted and made eligible for office after serving a tour of duty. These special
units were abolished in 147 I. however, because of complaints they allowed slaves
or ex-slaves higher ranking posts than their former masters, and would confuse
the status system. In addition, the miscellaneous soldiers (chapsaekkun), who
numbered over 76,000 men in 1467. also included slaves, organized like the Koryo
Inhogun.77 Despite the evidence of military service by slaves, however, the vast
majority of slaves did not serve except in emergencies.
This exemption from service was the reason why there was a marked trend
toward commendation by commoner yang'in to estate owners and artisans as
slaves in the late fifteenth century. They wished to escape the increased regis-
tration of men for military service that was initiated by King Sejo when he adopted
the strict hop ('Ie or household tally system of registration in 1458. One such estate
owner was charged with harboring 500 such concealed or commended yang'in
in 1474, and officials complained in 1490 that there were large numbers of such
commended slaves throughout the countryJ8
By the end of the sixteenth century the efforts of the early kings to expand the