KOREAN LOBBYING AT THE MING COURT: KING CHUNGJONG'S USURPATION OF 1506: A RESEARCH NOTE

Abstract

To date, most scholarly studies of Sino-Korean relations during the Ming have focused on the turbulent events of the late fourteenth century and the periods of crises during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Less attention has been devoted to the maintenance of Ming-Chosôn relations and the resolution of relatively minor incidents during the intervening two centuries. More attention to the ongoing management of Sino-Korean relations during this period of peace and general amity is necessary. Not only was the period of the fifteenth and the majority of the sixteenth centuries more typical of Ming-Chosôn relations than the heightened tension and suspicion that marked the early fourteenth and late sixteenth centuries. Further, close study of these ongoing relations reveal much about how East Asian diplomacy was actually conducted.