병자호란 전야 외교 접촉의 실상과 청의 기만 작전, 그리고 『청태종실록』의 기록 조작

Abstract

As is well known, Hong Taiji, Qing emperor Taizong, embarked on his 1637 invasion of Joseon Korea eight months after the bilateral diplomatic relations based on the 1627 ‘pledge of brotherhood’ broke down. During the several months preceding the war, the Joseon court did not give up hope on the eventual success of the restoration of diplomatic relations with the Manchus on one hand, while preparing for the outbreak of war on the other. This paper conducts a critical analysis of the contradictions and inconsistencies in the historical records of both Qing and Joseon, according to which Hong Taiji issued a sort of ultimatum with a temporal deadline and the conditions that Joseon must meet in order to prevent an outbreak of war in the fourth or tenth lunar month of 1636.BR A close examination of the records shows that the entry of the Qing Veritable Records containing an episode about the issuance of ultimatum in the fourth lunar month is in fact a forgery committed by the compilers of the Qing Veritable Records during the Shunzhi era. The study has also found that the Manchus, taking advantage of the diplomatic contacts with Joseon, carried out an operation of deception. The translator who was dispatched to the Qing capital Shenyang by the Joseon court in the tenth lunar month, was in fact deceived into accepting a fake deadline and to believing other misinformation. This ‘ruse de guerre’ of the Manchus, spanning from strategic to operational level of military deception, was aimed at hindering the Joseon court from concentrating on war preparation. It turned out to be as effective as expected when the Manchus invaded Joseon much sooner than the fake deadline.BR Toward the end, this paper presents concrete evidence to demonstrate that, with a view to constructing a ‘Just War’ narrative about their 1637 invasion of Joseon, the compilers of the Qing Veritable Records, in addition to the aforementioned forgery, did not hesitate to intentionally mistranslate an entry that includes a critical clue to the historical truth about their deception of Joseon with the fake deadline.