SLAVERY 267to discriminate against one group in favor of another. The king should "not dis-
tinguish between the noble and base, those close to him or distant, but treat them
all equally as his babes. How is it in conformity with the principle of regarding
all as brothers [tong!' (lJ to label [some of the people 1 male or female slaves [nobi]
and divide them up and separate them [from the rest of the population]?"
While difficult to pinpoint the origin of this idea, it was close to one of the
arguments made by Yu in the mid-seventeenth century. Yu's main appeal for even-
tual abolition was based on the idea of the equality of man in its nonchattel aspect,
and he had remarked upon the need for a virtuous ruler to treat his subjects with-
out discrimination. Sunjo's declaration of the equal status of all subjects and
criticism of the principle of status distinction was a shift from Chongjo's views,
and yet still limited in its application, for it was not extended to private slaves.
who constituted the vast majority of the slave population.
Another issue had to be cleared up before the justification for abolition was
complete - the meaning of the precedent of Kija's slave law. Sunjo's decree stated
that people mistakenly believed that the holding of slaves by the Royal Trea-
sury and administrative offices ofthe capital had originated with Kija. The decree
explained that Kija had indeed granted instruction to the people of the Eastern
Land (Tongguk, i.e., Korea), in eight categories. These eight instructions were
in fact the eight divisions of kingly administration that were part of the "great
plan" (hongbOm) that Kija had imparted to the first emperor of the Chou dynasty.
One of the eight categories of governance was the management of crime and
rebellion by the Ssu-k'ou (the Chou minister of punishments). Unfortunately,
the Koreans (the people of the Eastern Land) were stupid and mistook minor
regulations for Kija's eight major categories of governance. Thus they thought
that the law that provided that thieves would become the slaves of their victim
was one of the eight major categories when, in fact, it was but a minor regula-
tion that evolved from the exercise of the police power by the Ssu-k 'au.
Sunjo's decree also stated that the regulation for the enslavement of thieves
should have been entirely consistent with the principle of the Doctrine of the
Mean that the ruler was obliged to treat all his subjects equally. But contrary to
this intent,
Slavery [in Korea] in recent times is more reflective of an age of decline because
officials impose great burdens on slaves. and ordinary people treat them as
extremely base. Their lineages and communities are kept separate [from the rest
of the population], they have to live in ,eparate villages or areas, and for their
whole lives neither sex is capable of legitimate marriage. How could Kija ever
have been called a sage if he [devised] a system like this?To the contrary, the decree continued, Kija was known for advising the ruler to
make the people happy, eliminate cruel treatment of the helpless and unprotected,
and act as the father and mother of all the people. Slavery was thus not an insti-
tution that could have been created by Kija.