1799년 암행어사 신현의 감찰과 조정의 대응 －충청ㆍ화성을 중심으로－ = Amhaeng Eosa Shin Hyeon’s Inspection and the Court’s Response in 1799 －Focusing on Chungcheong and Hwaseong－

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines Shin Hyeon’s activities as amhaeng eosa in Hoseo in 1799, his additional inspection of the Hwaseong area, and the government’s responses to these reports, based on an analysis of his diary, Siljae ilseung, together with his seogye and byeoldan. As a chogye munsin, Shin Hyeon assessed the administrative competence of magistrates in the target counties of his secret inspection as well as local officials along the route, including the Chungcheong provincial governor. He identified major problems in local governance, such as relief administration, the operation of state grain loans, manipulation by local clerks, the lax enforcement of the cattle-slaughter ban, and the handling of lawsuits. In his byeoldan, he integrated the issues King Jeongjo had specified in the royal instructions with the findings of his on-site investigation, and proposed alternatives that departed from customary administrative practices, aiming at stabilizing people’s livelihoods and encouraging more active local rule by magistrates.
Based on Shin Hyeon’s seogye, the court carried out personnel measures against local officials, though the level of punishment remained limited. The proposals presented in the byeoldan were deliberated at court; some were adopted, while others were deferred in consideration of current circumstances and established precedents.
The additional inspection of the Hwaseong area, reflecting Jeongjo’s political intentions, revealed the actual workings of Hwaseong after its elevation to yusubu status and of Jeongjo’s policy of inhwa in Hwaseong. In this process, a wide range of problems were reported, including military administration, state grain-loan operations, irrigation, and encroachments by local clerks. Personnel measures against local officials followed, but in the end the magistrates whose problems had been raised remained in office. The issues raised in the byeoldan were then discussed at court, resulting either in adjustments to administrative practice or in an emphasis on the need for more active local rule by magistrates.