620 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONchronologies. Ou-yang Hsiu advised historians to describe specific crimes of active
officials to "encourage the good and chastise the bad" for future generations, and
to clarify errors of the ruler to warn against repetition of those mistakes in the
futureY Obviously, Yu wanted to maintain the integrity of the record-keeping
process and immunize it from political interference by high officials.NEW AGENCIESBureaus of'the Six MinistriesYu provided each of the Six Ministries with a complement of three specialized
bureaus (Sa), designed to establish full and specific jurisdiction over all matters
pertinent to the business of each ministryY The organization of these bureaus
was close to but not identical with the bureaus of the Six Ministries of either
the rang or Choson dynasties." They reflected different social circumstances
in Korea and some ofYu's special core organizational ideas. By this means he
hoped to eliminate a number of independent agencies and commissions created
in the manner of the Sung commissions, and incorporate their activities into the
appropriate ministry.Bureau of Forbidden Affairs (State Tribunal)For example, he proposed the creation of a Bureau of Forbidden Affairs
(Changgiimsa) in the Ministry of Punishments to replace the existing indepen-
dent Office for the Deliberation of Forbidden Affairs (or State Tribunal,
Uigiimbu). The latter was a special tribunal created on an ad hoc basis by kings
to try high officials and eminent scholars for malfeasance in office or moral turpi-
tude, since their status was too great to be judged by any but their peers, and the
judges were usually high ministers appointed as concurrencies. Yu opposed its
continuation because there was no prototype for such a special tribunal in ancient
China. Since the Ssu-k'ou in the Chou period and the Ting-wei in the Han were
equivalent to the Ministry of Punishments and had assumed responsibility for
criminal cases, this task was logically to be entrusted to that ministry.
Yu, however. did not by this measure intend to demean the yangban and throw
them into the criminal courts alongside commoners and slaves because he pro-
vided that yang ban defendants should still be separated from commoners and
placed in separate jails. In this instance, at least, he placed more importance on
the propriety of institutional fonnat than the rectification of unfair inheri ted priv-
ileges by the yangban.3^4
A Subordinate Slave Bureau in the Ministry of PunishmentsYu also insisted that the independent Slave Bureau (Changyesa) be subordinated
to the Ministry of Punishments, but he did not do so because of any dogmatic