Registering Households and Organizing the People: Household Registration Documents in Modern Joseon (New Economic History Series)

In ancient Chinese society, household registration was the most basic means for rulers to conduct political rule and social management. Through the specific form of household registration, the control over the household registration of the people was achieved and the foundation of its rule was established. This was not only continued by successive Chinese dynasties, but was also accepted by surrounding areas with centralized state forms and even other political forms. In the history of East Asia, countries in the Chinese character circle such as Korea and Japan were deeply influenced by the Chinese household registration system. At the same time, they also combined their own governance needs with the reality of their own countries to create household registrations with different forms and functions, forming different characteristics. Household registration can be said to be a typical document for understanding the commonality and diversity of governance systems in different regions of East Asia. When studying the traditional political and social structure of East Asia, the household registration system is the most basic system. The starting point of this book is to explore the formation and implementation of household registration in traditional Korean society, and to review the historical status of the household registration system in the traditional political and social structure of Korea. The implementation of household registration in North Korea cannot be simply summarized as an issue of "acceptance". This book hopes to outline the implementation process that not only includes the mechanism of household registration in North Korea's own historical context, but also pays attention to its internalization and renewal process in North Korean society.