618 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONthat every agency of the government should have regular grades and fixed salaries
for its officials, and biannual tests of skill to maintain high standards for offi-
cials. Raising and lowering salaries on the basis of on-the-job performance
should only be allowed for the lowest level functionaries, like copyists, artists,
and musicians.^25
The establishment of special commissions called General Directorates (Togam)
to handle affairs on an ad hoc basis was another practice that had to be elimi-
nated. Yu claimed that establishing such commissions with a full staff of per-
sonnel, runners, and slaves was a common occurrence, used even for what would
otherwise be considered routine matters. The practice had originated as a symp-
tom of administrative decline in the late Koryo dynasty, and had unfortunately
been carried over into the Choson era.^26Rationalize the Administration of the Capital
Yu sought to abolish superfluous agencies responsible for the control of popu-
lation and punishment of wrongdoers in the capital. He sought to transfer the
responsibilities of officials in charge of the Five Wards (Obu), the separate offi-
cials for surveillance and arresting outlaws such as the watch guards handled
by the Capital Patrol (Kiim'owi) since Koryo times, and the Agency forthe Arrest
of Thieves (P'odoch'ong), to the Ministry of Punishments, and ultimately the
Agency of Punishments (Chon'okso). This last agency had been carried over
from the Koryo dynasty and was used as the repository of suspects charged with
a variety of crimes who were transferred to the Ministry of Punishments, the
Seoul Magistracy, and the Office ofInspector-General for adjudication and then
sent back to the Agcncy of Punishments. It could be abolished by establishing
jails in the Ministry of Punishments, the Seoul Magistracy (Hansongbu), and
even the Office of Inspector-General. 27 Finally, the useless Agency for the Elderly
(Kiroso) for men over seventy years of age and rank 2A was deemed totally
worthless because the king would also award the elderly by providing them with
rice and meat. The leniency of the king created more expenses than benefits
because various grants of fields, parks, fish weirs, and salt flats expanded these
funds run by the Agency for the Elderly.2s
Remonstrance
Yu pared down posts involved in advising the king, criticizing malfeasance in
office, and facilitating the transmission of documents. He retained the Office of
Special Counselors (Hongmun'gwan), an agency of five officials and fifty-nine
assistants charged with speaking their minds in "assisting the virtue and right-
eousness of the king," it had become one of the de facto agencies of the censo-
rate.^29 He also preserved the Office of Inspector-General (Sahonbu) with six
officials and sixty-six assistants to criticize shortcomings, rectify mores, and pre-
vent excesses and falsifications. but he discarded the Office of Censor-General