Yeo Ui-son was a
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n civil minister (''munsin'') and
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
from the
Hamyang
Hamyang County (''Hamyang-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
It is home to the Wooden Seated Statue of Buddha in Beopinsa (법인사), the Standing Statue of Buddha in Deokjeonri (덕전리), the Three-Level Stone Pagod ...
Yeo clan during the early period of the
Joseon dynasty
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
. Yeo served as the first
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
(''moksa'') of the
Jeju Island and a ''Jeonseo'' (minister).
He also was sent to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
as a diplomat representing
Joseon
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
.
Biography
On October 25, 1403, the fourth year of
Taejong
Taejong of Joseon (13 June 1367 – 8 June 1422), personal name Yi Bang-won (Korean: 이방원; Hanja: 李芳遠), was the third ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea and the father of King Sejong the Great. Before ascending to the throne, he wa ...
's reign, Yeo Ui-son was dispatched to Japan as a return courtesy to an earlier Japanese diplomatic mission to Korea sent from the Japanese shogun,
Ashikaga Yoshimochi
was the fourth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1394 to 1423 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimochi was the son of the third ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).
Succession and rule
In 1394, ...
[Kang, Etsuko H. (1997)]
''Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century,'' p. 275.
/ref> in the same year.[(1404-10-28) (in Korean)]
태종 8권, 4년(1404 갑신 / 명 영락(永樂) 2년) 10월 24일(임진) 2번째기사 전서(典書) 여의손(呂義孫)을 일본국(日本國)에 보내어, 국왕에게 보빙(報聘)하였다.
Taejong Sillok, Annals of the Joseon Dynasty
The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule ...
, vol. 8. He was a ''Joseonseo'' (典書), the predecessor of '' Panseo'', or, minister of ''Yukjo'', the Six Ministries
The Three Departments and Six Ministries () system was the primary administrative structure in imperial China from the Sui dynasty (581–618) to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). It was also used by Balhae (698–926) and Goryeo (918–1392) and ...
.
On February 27, 1406, however, the king banished Yeo to Jindo island for his remissness in the discharge of his duty as a diplomat. When Yeo Ui-son arrived in Japan, a diplomat from Ming China also visited there. His interpreter, Hwang Gi (黃奇) was fluent in both Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
and Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...
, so the Ming diplomat took off Hwang to China. In addition, Yeo did not submit a report regarding the news to the king that Ming informed Japan of the intention to assault Joseon, but spread it in private. The Office of Inspector-General'' called Saheonbu
Saheonbu ( ko, 사헌부; Hanja: , ) administered inspections during Goryeo and Joseon dynasty in Korea. The organ inspected Hanyang, the capital, and periphery. It has several nicknames. It was also responsible for licensing officials, impeachmen ...
'' accused Yeo of the negligence of the mission.[(1406-02-27) (in Korean]
태종 11권, 6년(1406 병술 / 명 영락(永樂) 4년) 2월 27일(무자) 1번째기사 일본에 가서 사신의 임무를 소홀히 한 여의손을 진도로 귀양보내다
Taejong Sillok, Annals of the Joseon Dynasty
The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule ...
, vol. 11.
See also
* Joseon diplomacy Joseon diplomacy was the foreign policy of the Joseon dynasty of Korea from 1392 through 1910; and its theoretical and functional foundations were rooted in Neo-Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, institutions and philosophy.
Taejo of Joseon established ...
* Joseon missions to Japan
Joseon missions to Japan represent a crucial aspect of the international relations of mutual Joseon-Japanese contacts and communication. In sum, these serial diplomatic ventures illustrate the persistence of Joseon's '' kyorin'' (neighborly rela ...
* Joseon Tongsinsa
The Joseon Tongsinsa were goodwill missions sent intermittently, at the request of the resident Japanese authority, by Joseon dynasty Korea to Japan. The Korean noun identifies a specific type of diplomatic delegation and its chief envoys. From ...
Notes
References
* Daehwan, Noh
"The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century,"
''Korea Journal'' (Winter 2003).
* Hall
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
, John Whitney. (1997). ''The Cambridge History of Japan: Early Modern Japan.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
. ;
* Kang, Etsuko Hae-jin. (1997). ''Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century.'' Basingstoke, Hampshire; Macmillan. ;
External links
Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeo, Ui-son
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Joseon dynasty
Korean diplomats
Hamyang Yeo clan
15th-century Korean diplomats