earticle

영어

Confucianism was a national ideology during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, and the Korean people used liquor for a variety of ceremonies to exercise Confucian doctrines in their daily life. Liquor, also, played an important role as a medicine. Ironically, however, the drinking of liquor was limited through the liquor prohibition law, even though it was widely used in people’s daily life. During the Joseon Dynasty, ‘Three Prohibition Law’ was implemented, which banned heavy drinking, slaughtering cows, and logging pine trees without permission. Since liquor, made from rice, was closely correlated with social and economic issues, the government needed to control the liquor on a national level to maintain social and economic stability. The process of legislation of the afore-mentioned prohibition law systemically shows the phases of liquor development and the stages of liquor prohibition in the Joseon Dynasty because a code is usually supplemented or republished according to social and economic shifts. Based on social changes, Joseon’s liquor prohibition law was legitimated by a selection of codes, beginning with Kyeongkukdaejeon, the first code of Joseon, up to and including Yukjeonjorae, a code published in the period of the last emperor. In the begging of the Joseon era, the major reason for the liquor prohibition law was mainly related to natural disaster while in the latter period of the era, to prevent the wasting of grains for bad years. This change was because, regardless of, people still brewed wine and sold it, illegally. So the government needed tougher controls to stabilize the price of grains. After the 18th century, the social and economic prosperity of the country led the liquor prohibition law to be more strategically discussed and systematically controlled. This also resulted in an active compilation of a new code and advancement of the text in the prohibition law. With the liquor market developed and liquor commercialized, the law was tougher than ever, but in time its limitation of controlling liquor was revealed. The law was exercised so instantly and fluidly that the ruling class could easily abuse it, and it resulted in a lot of corruption. That is, the law was only applied to the public, not to the upper class. As a result, the liquor prohibition law remained a cause of the public's suffering while the ruling class reaped all the benefits.