Ryu Sŏngnyong, Chancellor of Chosŏn Korea: On the Battlefield and in Memory by Choi Byonghyon (review)

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Reviewed by:

• Ryu Sŏngnyong, Chancellor of Chosŏn Korea: On the Battlefield and in Memory by Choi Byonghyon
• Adam Bohnet

Ryu Sŏngnyong, Chancellor of Chosŏn Korea: On the Battlefield and in Memory by Choi Byonghyon. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2022. 560 pp.

Many years ago, I taught an undergraduate class in Halifax about the Imjin War (1592–1598), a massive invasion of Chosŏn Korea by Japan under the kampaku (regent) of Japan, Hideyoshi (1537–1598), which elicited a military intervention from the Ming empire. The class went notably well, in part thanks to the primary text that I used, namely passages from the Chingbirok (Book of corrections) by Yu Sŏngnyong (1542–1607), translated by Choi Byonghyon. It was a popular choice and elicited a productive argument between two members of the Canadian military attending my class. One officer, who primarily worked behind the scenes assessing risks, was impressed by what he perceived to be Yu’s clarity and forthright discussion of the failures of the Chosŏn state during the Imjin War—I remember that he described Yu Sŏngnyong as “a straight shooter who didn’t sugarcoat problems.” Another student, a naval officer with a naval officer’s strident opinions, who was clearly on tense terms with his senior officers, thought that Yu Sŏngnyong resembled a “bean counter,” and compared him to a politician working far from the front who had no understanding of the real challenges of war, but who was adept at creating a convenient narrative that largely absolved himself from blame. What was wonderful about this discussion was that both students could base their opinions on an internal analysis of the text, beautifully translated by Choi into English. Their disagreement, moreover, continued debates that extended back to Yu Sŏngnyong’s own lifetime. It is clear that Yu, while writing the Chingbirok, genuinely wanted to understand the causes of Chosŏn’s military failures, but at the same time he generally avoided taking responsibility for wartime disasters, and it is indeed true that he spent the war primarily in court, directing the military in relative safety from behind the scenes.

I was thus most pleased to learn that Choi Byonghyon has also now translated a biography of Yu Sŏngnyong (1542–1607), or “Ryu Sŏngnyong,” following his rendering of the surname.¹ Yu was a highly significant political figure, who rose to the very top of the civil bureaucratic hierarchy of Chosŏn, and who served prominently before and during the Imjin War. Yu was also a prolific author and [End Page 86] scholar. His many writings about the war are key sources for all who study it, and include the aforementioned Chingbirok, a work that analyzes what he saw to be the causes of Chosŏn’s failures in the war as an admonition for later generations. Yu was also controversial in his own lifetime—as an affiliate of the Southerner (Namin) faction, he was criticized by rivals among the Westerners (Sŏin) and Northerners (Pugin). An early memorial by Yu criticizing what he saw to be rampant “factionalism” in the Chosŏn court was interpreted by political rivals as a factional move itself. As a prominent leader during the war, he was, rightly or wrongly, blamed for the many disasters and controversial decisions of the war, including the flight by the king and high officials from the capital to escape the invading Japanese. He was also attacked for his perceived support for the later peace negotiations between the Ming Empire and the Japanese. On the other hand, his memory was honored both by his descendants and by affiliates of the Southerner faction, especially in the vicinity of Andong, his home region. He is thus an unquestionably worthy topic for a biography.

This biography is nicely written and quotes a number of new translations of other writings by Yu, including poems, letters and other documents. These translations on their own are a valuable contribution, which I will almost certainly use in my teaching. The biography is quite long, at more than 490 pages not including notes, and is structured as a chronological...