Rebellion and Region in Korea

What is it about?

Many scholars have stressed that regional dynamics led to the outbreak of the Musin Rebellion, the largest rebellion in eighteenth-century Korea. This paper analyses evidence from official sources about rebel motivations, rebel geographical associations and the court view of the causes. Rebel testimony showed no evidence of any anger about discrimination against elites from a single region. There is also inconsistent evidence of regional concerns in the membership of the rebel organisation, which was drawn from three southern provinces and mainly concentrated around the capital. My findings challenge the conclusions of regionalist scholars and place the Musin Rebellion in a trajectory of late Chosŏn rebellion that was attempting to redress factional political discrimination and was not caused by regional concerns.

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Why is it important?

The article suggests a new pattern for the history of rebellion in Korea, suggesting that the majority of pre-1800 rebellions were coups while popular uprisings became more prevalent post 1800.