686 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
dynastic period, there is no doubt that local clerks played a major role in foment-
ing peasant rebellion by the mid-nineteenth century.28
Because the status and work of the local clerks changed in many ways, Yu's
formula for providing regular salaries through tax revenues was achieved in prac-
tice. It was not done, however, by rational planning of total revenues, but by the
ad hoc imposition of surtaxes at local initiative. Whether the growing power,
weak status, or corrupt behavior of the local clerks was the main cause, the clerks
became a primary catalyst for social disruption in the uprising of 1862.Women Slave Service PersonnelA significant innovation in reducing the demand on males for service in gov-
ernment offices would have been the use of women slaves in service positions,
and Yu was induced to retain the use of women for service jobs but in lesser
numbers than men. Those that did perform service for the state would be com-
pensated for their work by grants of salary and land on a scale equivalent to
men. On the other hand, Yu was not overjoyed by the retention of female slaves
for government service for two reasons: female slaves were being unjustly treated
as slaves because they had inherited their social status by birth, and they were
subjected to sexual demands by male officials. He also pointed out that neither
in ancient nor contemporary times were women required to perform labor ser-
vice in government offices, and even the Korean law code had no provision for
assigning female slaves to work assignments in capital bureaus. Given current
circumstances there was no reason why it was necessary to have female slaves
perform service duties in both capital and provincial offices.
Yu explained the reasons for excluding female slaves from service jobs alto-
gether. In ancient China men and women guilty of crimes were in fact made slaves
and required to perform service for state agencies. The labor service required of
slaves in ancient China were imposed as a penalty for criminal behavior, but there
was no law providing for the inheritance of slave status from one's parents because
hereditary slavery was regarded as a law contrary to the action of ajust and vir-
tuous king. Labor service for the state was thus regarded as an entirely legiti-
mate duty of males, but women were only required to accompany their husbands
as part of their moral obligation to their spouses. Therefore, the assignment of
labor service to women for officials was regarded as a gross miscarriage of jus-
tice, especially since they were not guilty of any criminal behavior themselves.
The situation was exacerbated by the behavior of Korean officials who
treated women who served them as if they were kisaeng (female entertainers)
and forced them to have sexual relations. The government did nothing to pre-
vent the exploitative employment of women as service personnel, but instead
prohibited female entertainers from marrying lest they damage the institution
of marriage and contribute to the destruction of moral standards. Yu insisted that
the prejudice against female service obligations had in fact been created by cur-
rent standards of behavior, and he preferred that women slaves be removed from