공민왕대 후반의 정국운영과 신돈의 집정

Abstract

Sin Don is known to be a monk who took power on behalf of the king for about six years from the 14th year of King Gongmin''s reign (1365) to the 20th year of King Gongmin''s reign. Sin Don was a monk and a devout secular. During his reign, Shindon achieved many socio-economic reforms, and was also called an ‘adult’ for pushing ahead with reforms for the general public by suppressing the Gwon Mun-se people. Nevertheless, among the countless people who have succeeded or lost politically in our history, he has been recognized and recorded in the librarian as an especially unforgivable human being. King Gongmin used Sin Don, a Buddhist monk with no political connections in Korea. Sin Don first implemented purges against armed forces like Choi Young or the Kwon Moon-se people. In addition, the government implemented an internal recommendation system to concentrate political power in one place. And officials’ personnel management employed a net qualification system, which would be promoted based on age of service rather than ability. Economically, the government has re-established a sense of national change. Sin Don served as a judge here and returned the land he had illegally taken from him through the estimation project and turned those who were forced to become slaves into sheep. The reform of Sin Don tried to drive the a of powerful families(KwonMoonsejok) out of politics, but failed to develop a new force to replace them. The power concentrated especially on the new money caused his arbitrary administration and excessive judicial judgment, which served as a big problem in his reform drive. Nor did King Gongmin wish for Shin Don’s concentration of power. As a result, Sin Don was removed by King Gongmin in 1371. Therefore, the political position of the newly-emerged remains weakened as powerful families and the militants, who were restricted from political activities, came to power again following the fall of Sin Don in the 20th year of King Gongmin’s reign.