SLAVERY 235yet become widespread. III In the present (Chason) dynasty the increase in the
slave population had left the country with barely 200.000 men on the service
rosters, and of these hardly more than a thousand were fit for actual duty. I I 2 He
presciently predicted that if the Japanese or others were to mass a force for an
invasion of Korea, there would be no way to construct a defense.
He also objected to the proliferation of lawsuits over slaveownership and the
depredations of the agents of slaveholders who blanketed the country looking
for runaway slaves. Slavery was the main reason why lineages were divided into
quarrelsome groups as they contested the inheritance of slaves, and why the dis-
trict magistrates were distracted from their ordinary business by the time and
trouble it took to adjudicate these cantankerous and complex cases.II3
Humanitarianism and Equality. Yu was particularly concerned about the dehu-
manizing effects that slavery had on society at large. He argued that slavery bru-
talized not only the slaves but the slaveowners as well, who were only able to
manage their slaves by whipping them. As a result the slaves had lost all sense
of loyalty and all taste for diligent toil. They absconded in droves because inhu-
mane treatment left them no redress but flight from their homes and villages. 114
Yu's concept of the brutalization of both slaves and slaveowners was a new twist
on the conventional view of slavery, but by no means did he rest content with
this unique view. He went further, articulating a principle of human equality
nowhere to be found in the previous literature: "At the present time in our coun-
try we regard slaves as chattel. Now people are all the same llit., people are of
the same type or category J. How could there be a principle by which one per-
son regards another person as his property?" I IS
In his view, the custom of treating slaves as chattel was absent from ancient
(Chinese) society. and its existence in contemporary Korean society was an unfor-
tunate indication of how far Korea had t~lllen from the glorious norms of the past.
In ancient times when people asked how wealthy a state was, the answer was
given in the number of horses [possessed]. This meant that even though the Son
of Heaven and the feudal lords were responsible for governing other men. they
never regarded other men as their private property [ki chaemu/j. But as far as the
customs of this country [Korea] at the present time are concerned, if you ask a
man how wealthy he is. the reply will a/wavs be made in terms o(how many
slaves and how much land he owns [italics mine]. From this one can see how
wrong our laws are and how sick our customs are.The crux of the problem was that people allowed their immediate private inter-
est to obscure their understanding and delude themselves into thinking that slav-
ery was too hard to eliminate. Koreans were laboring under the misconception
that slaves were somehow different from ordinary people, and that the ruler of
the state was justified in doing them harm. Regarding slaves as a kind of sub-
human had led to the cruel treatment of slaves, particularly in the process of
capturing fugitives. I 16