Royal Joseon Sogyokso and Popcho: The Philosophical Encumbrance of Sarim in the Kimyo Literati Purge (1519)
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS University of London
- Room
- Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)
About this event
The early modern history of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) in East Asia is often depicted as an era of political conflict between the king, the Hun’gu faction, and the Sarim faction.
The four major Sahwa (literati purges) reflect its seriousness through which Neo-Confucian scholars were sacrificed by the punishments of execution, exile, or dismissal. The Kimyo Sahwa was the most notorious incident for the Chinese ideology of the Sarim political party. What, then, happened in 1519? What kind of social transformation occurred in relation to the Sungkyunkwan scholars (the national university of the era)? Why did the public office of Daoist Sogyŏksŏ become one of the most controversial issues at the Joseon court? How was the royal shrine of Samch’ŏngjŏn criticised by the leaders of the Sarim faction? This paper explores the politico-religious landscape of early modern Korea through the key features of Jungjong coup (Royal Coup of 1506), Jo Gwangjo (1482–1520) and ‘the Literati Purge of 1519’, and argues the critical insight that the Daoist rituals and sacred sites (altars for the sky, stars, and gods) were traditionally maintained in the Pŏpcho philosophy of the Royal sovereignty even if the culture of Jongmyo (ancestral altars) and Sajik (altars of soil and grain) were legally implemented at the beginning of the Confucian Joseon.
Registration
This event is free, open to the public, and held in person only.
Organiser
This event has been organised by the SOAS Centre of Korean Studies.
Contact: centres@soas.ac.uk
About the speaker
David W. Kim (PhD: Syd) is a Visiting Scholar, Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University, an Associate Professor of Modern History at Kookmin University, Seoul, a Mission Specialist of ANU Institute for Space and an Honorary Lecturer at the School of History, Australian National University, Canberra.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, UK, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, UK, the Editor for the Book Series in East Asian Religion and Culture (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK), and a Member for UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Korea Government, and Chair of the National Association of Foreign Scholars in Korea (NAFSIK).
Kim’s publications (twelve books and 92 peer-reviewed articles) include Religion in Modern Education: Conflict, Economics, and Politics (2026), Silk Road Footprints: Transnational Transmission of Sacred Thoughts and Historical Legacy (2025), Socio-Anthropological Approaches to Religion: Environmental Hope (2024), Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures (2021), The Words of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas: The Genesis of a Wisdom Tradition (2021), New Religious Movements in Modern Asian History (2020), Daesoon Jinrihoe in Modern Korea: The Emergence, Transformation and Transmission of a New Religion (2020), Colonial Transformation and Asian Religions in Modern History (2018), Religious Encounters in Transcultural Society (2017), Religious Transformation in Modern Asia (2015) and Intercultural Transmission in the Medieval Mediterranean (2012).
