582 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
the Office of Royal Decrees and junior compiler of the Bureau of State
Records. The following year, he was promoted to the position of drafter in
the Chancellery, and in the summer went to Yuan China, to work in the
Hanlin Academy. In the Pyŏngsin year (1356), he resigned from office and
returned home to serve his aged mother. That autumn he was appointed
vice minister (sirang) of the Board of Personnel and soon promoted to fifth
royal secretary (u pu sŭngsŏn). Thereafter he served the king as royal secre-
tary for seven full years.
In the Sinch’uk year (1361), the capital [Kaesŏng] fell into the hands of
Red Turban bandits (Honggŏnjŏk). King Kongmin was forced to take refuge
in the south, and Saek escorted him; when Koryŏ regained the capital, he
was appointed merit subject first class and bestowed with an iron tally
(ch’ŏlgwŏn) [an emblem of authority with the inscription of personal records,
including rank].
In the Kyemyo year (1363), he was appointed supervisor of Confucian
schools (ruxue tiju) of the Secretariat (zhongshusheng) of the Eastern Expedi-
tion Field Headquarters on the order of the Yuan emperor, and in Koryŏ was
made academician of the Security Council and merit subject for utmost
sincerity and defending principle (tansŏng pori kongsin). In the Chŏngmi
year (1367), he was appointed director of the Eastern Expedition Field
Headquarters, and in Koryŏ, chief magistrate of Kaesŏng and, concurrently,
chancellor of the National Academy. He selected six or seven scholars
learned in Confucian classics, including Chŏng Mongju and Yi Sungin, and
let them teach the students [of the National Academy]. He had the instruc-
tors divide the classical texts among themselves for teaching, always empha-
sizing discussion and analysis or finding the middle ground, avoiding
wayward views until the students thoroughly understood the topic under
discussion. As a result, the old practice of focusing solely on rote memoriza-
tion or practical matters gradually disappeared, and the serious study of
Neo- Confucianism began to take root once more.
In the Kiyu year (1369), when he served as associate examination admin-
istrator together with Yi Inbok, examination administrator, he requested
that King Kongmin implement the Chinese civil service recruitment exam-
inations for the first time. Though Saek supervised the civil service exami-
nations as many as four times, everyone was impressed by his fairness.
King Kongmin built a shrine for his late Queen Noguk, but the shrine in
which the portrait of the queen was to be hung was too ostentatious.
Chancellor Yu T’ak submitted a memorial requesting that the king cease the
construction, enraging the king to the point that he tried to kill T’ak and