''Nobi'' were members of the slave class during the Korean dynasties of

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

and

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

. Legally, they held the lowest rank in medieval Korean society. ''Nobi'' were considered property or chattel, and could be bought, sold, or gifted.

Classification

The ''nobi'' were socially indistinct from freemen other than the ruling ''

yangban The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats wh ...

'' class, and some possessed property rights, legal entities and civil rights. Hence, some scholars argue that it is inappropriate to call them "slaves", while some scholars describe them as

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

. Furthermore, the Korean word for an actual slave, in the European and American meaning, is ''noye'', not ''nobi''. Some ''nobi'' owned their own ''nobi''.

History

Some people became ''nobi'' as legal punishment for committing a crime or failing to pay a debt. However, some people voluntarily became ''nobi'' in order to escape crushing poverty during poor harvests and famines. Household ''nobi'' served as personal retainers and domestic servants, and most received a monthly salary that could be supplemented by earnings gained outside regular working hours. Non-resident nobi resided at a distance and were little different than tenant farmers or commoners. They were registered officially as independent family units and possessed their own houses, families, land, and fortunes. Non-resident nobi were far more numerous than household nobi. The hierarchical relationship between yangban master and ''nobi'' was believed to be equivalent to the Confucian hierarchical relationship between ruler and subject, or father and son. Nobi were considered an extension of the master's own body, and an ideology based on patronage and mutual obligation developed. The ''Annals of King Taejong'' stated: "The ''nobi'' is also a human being like us; therefore, it is reasonable to treat him generously" and "In our country, we love our ''nobis'' like a part of our body." In the ''chakkae'' system, ''nobi'' were assigned two pieces of agricultural land, with the resulting produce from the first land paid to the master, and the produce from the second land kept by the ''nobi'' to consume or sell. In order to gain freedom, ''nobi'' could purchase it, earn it through military service, or receive it as a favor from the government. In 1426,

Sejong the Great Sejong (; 15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), commonly known as Sejong the Great (), was the fourth monarch of the Joseon, Joseon dynasty of Korea. He is regarded as the greatest ruler in Korean history, and is remembered as the inventor of Hangu ...

enacted a law that granted government ''nobi'' women 100 days of

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

after childbirth, which, in 1430, was lengthened by one month before childbirth. In 1434, Sejong also granted the husbands 30 days of paternity leave.

References

External links

Slavery in Traditional Korea (James B. Palais, University of Washington; Theodore Kornweibel, San Diego University)
at the Abstracts of the 2000 AAS Annual Meeting (via archive.org)
Changing Aspects in the Livelihood of Korean Slaves (nobi) in Late Choson Korea (Kuen Tae Kim et al.)
at the Abstracts of the 2006 AAS Annual Meeting Korean caste system Slavery in Korea Korean slaves

Classification

History

References

Further reading

External links