Adopted views in this article are from areas like Climate history studies and Socio-Economic historical studies, in order to properly examine the history of Joseon dynasty’s latter half period. Examined here is the emergence of large scale refugees in the mid-17th century, who surfaced as a direct result of several climatic disasters that hit the peninsula and triggered certain social and economic changes in Joseon. The government’s response to such refugee problems shows us how the human lives were not only affected but also interconnected with all these climatic changes.BR Compared to the size of refugee groups caused by the Great famine that plagued the 15th century Joseon society, the refugee population that surfaced in the 17th century’s latter half, even when counted conservatively, seems like at least three times bigger than that of the refugee population in the 15th century, and quite possibly even 10 times of that. Also, unlike the 15th century the late 17th century was witnessing emergence of refugees all across the country.BR Originally, the government’s basic policy toward refugees was to return them to their original locations and residences, but the size and number of those refugee groups made that virtually impossible. In 1670, when the Gyeong/Shin years’ Great famine began, the government organized all the refugees from the Northern regions into a special military unit, effectively allowing them not to return to where they had originally come from. And in 1675, the government decided to register all households currently in the same area, either original residents of the area or refugees from other regions, into the present area’s Five-Household Registry System(Ogatong, 五家統). Then later in 1703, following the Eul/Byeong years’ Great famine, all the refugees who converged in the Capital city were allowed -in most cases- to remain in the Capital or the Gyeonggi region, instead of being forcibly returned to their original hometowns.BR All these noticeable changes in the government’s refugee policy became more and more apparent later on, with all the changes taking place in the Joseon society and its economy. When looking at the social and economic reality of the later Joseon days, it would be necessary to pay more attention to the refugees who existed in them by examining the climate factors behind them, not just from the perspective of ‘accumulative development’.