The Japanese Pirate Raid on Gadeok Island and the Establishment of Fortresses during the Reign of Jungjong in Joseon Dynasty

Abstract

In January 1508 when Joseon Dynasty was entering into friendly relations with Japan by opening Sampo, nine Korean people were murdered by some Japanese in Gadeok Island. This case is called the ‘Japanese Pirate Raid on Gadeok Island.’ It is presumed that the armed Japanese smugglers around Jepo were blamed for the raid. They can be defined as ‘Japanese pirate’, judging from their behavior pattern of doing illegal activities, such as smuggling trades, poaching, ravening and even murdering, in the places to evade the law of both states. They, descendants of ‘the former Japanese Pirate’ pervaded on Korean Peninsula in the late Goryeo Dynasty, worked in the way of smuggling in the Sampo period. And it can be said that they were a form of the marine people in the piratical circumstance. This feature was simply not limited to those who had the habit of doing the piracy, but was attributed to both the Japanese in Sampo and the batch Joseon called ‘Waein’. With the Japanese Pirate Raid on Gadeok Island and the series of subsequent raids, the government of Joseon Dynasty was convinced of the military importance in Gadeok Island. Immediately after that, through 30 years of discussion, Gadeok-jin (Gadeok fortress) and Cheonseong-bo(Cheonseong base) were established. They played their strategically important part.