Sea routes, intelligence agents, and the social dynamics of the Sino-Korean maritime frontier during the Ming-Manchu conflict

Abstract

This article examines the agency of local societies of the Sino-Korean maritime frontier in the circulation, utilisation, and management of intelligence that was intertwined with Chosŏn Korea’s subtle central-local relations in the international environment of northeast Asia during the Ming-Manchu conflict. It argues that the enhanced mobility of coastal populations in a highly pivotal sea space contributed to their multilateral espionage activity, within which their individual influence developed and deviated from state interests. This is exemplified by the wartime career of Ch'oe Hyoil, a Korean military man and intelligence agent residing on the Ŭiju coast, who shifted political identities and connected with multiple powers to acquire and transmit intelligence within the Ming-Manchu confrontation. His premediated escape to the sea in 1639 particularly illuminates the connectivity of coastal communities and the various roles of administrations at different levels in handing border espionage.