『조선왕조실록』에 나타난 ‘백정(白丁)’

Abstract

Before the start of the Joseon Dynasty, nomads from various ethnicities entered the Korean Peninsula from the north. In the early Joseon Dynasty, the scattered inhabitants in the country, who were either the northern nomads or their descendants, began to be called Baekjeong. During the Joseon Dynasty, Baekjeong were primarily engaged in animal slaughter, leather manufacturing, crafting daily necessities from willow trees, and traveling to different villages to provide entertainment. To facilitate the integration of the Baekjeong with the natives, officials of the early Joseon Dynasty implemented several civilization policies, including allocating land for farming, registering them in the family register to encourage settlement, etc. Despite these efforts, Baekjeong were originally commoners but faced discrimination due to their status as outsiders in the early Joseon Dynasty, as they could not easily abandon their nomadic lifestyle. However, following the Imjinwaeran and the Byeongjahoran, the term Baekjeong underwent a change in meaning, evolving into a discriminatory label for individuals who no longer belonged to nomadic descent, but only worked in menial occupations such as slaughter and organic manufacturing, in a situation where they were completely assimilated with the native population. Baekjeong had the identity of northern nomads in the early Joseon Dynasty, but they played a significant role in shaping present-day Korean people through their assimilation with the native inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula.