782 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMYwas subject to expansion by kings who were profligate spenders and consumers
of luxuries.
Yu recorded the admiration that Cho Han and Yu Songnyong had shown for
the beneficial effects of the single-whip tax reform and the conversion of land
and labor service taxes to silver in Ming China in the sixteenth century and
repeated their recommendation that some parallel to the Ming tax system be
adopted. Even though metallic currency, let alone silver, was still not a major
medium of exchange in Korea, it was obvious to them that a tax in grain or cloth
would be preferable to tribute in kind.
Nevertheless, this growing awareness needed a stimulus to create reform, and
it was provided by the devastation wrought by Hideyoshi's invasion after 1592.
Yu Songnyong became the prime mover in the adoption of the taedong method
of replacing tribute with a land tax in 1594, but the reform could not be sus-
tained beyond 1599. The rescission of tribute reform did not, however, depress
Yu because Han Paekkyom had explained that there were some understandable
reasons for the failure of the reform, notably the inadequacy of the land surtax
to replace tribute costs and the excessive concern of officials with raising funds
in the wake of wartime destruction.
Although the taedong system was not adopted permanently until 1608 by King
K wanghaegun, it had been proposed by two more officials that Yu admired, Han
Paekkyom and Yi Won' ik. Although K wanghaegun was dissuaded from extend-
ing the reform beyond Kyonggi Province by some who profited from tribute con-
tracting and corruption, and others who feared the disruption that might attend
any major change in a system of taxation, the groundwork had been laid for
reform by the general awareness of the corruption of the tribute system, the supe-
riority of a simpler and fairer land tax, and the positive example of the single-
whip tax reform in Ming China.
Kangwon Province, 1623
The taedong system was extended to Kangwon Province in 1623, but Yu
Hyongwon did not refer to it and omitted any reference to the struggle to expand
the reform until King Hyojong came to the throne in 1649.19 Nonetheless, a brief
discussion of the extension of the taedong system to Kangwon will help us to
evaluate the quality and nature of the reform effort.
Shortly after the coup d'etat against Kwanghaegun by the Westerner faction
and the enthronement of King Injo in 1623, the new minister of taxation, Yi So,
suggested a taedong tax for two or three provinces at a rate of ten mal/kyol to
provide some relief for the peasants. A few months later the Ministry of Taxa-
tion recommended extension of the taedong system to the whole country. Anx-
ious to avoid underfinancing the cost of tribute items, it suggested levying a higher
land surtax of twenty mal/kyol of rice in two or three additional provinces, half
to be collected in spring and fall to reduce the burden of paying the tax at one
time. It expected to collect a gross amount of 600,000 sam (I sam was equiva-