Slavery and Servile Societies in Korean History: The Hidden Background of Modern Korea

This study examines the long-overlooked institution of slavery in Korea, challenging its erasure from historical narratives and reassessing its role within the country's socio-political structure. It explores how slavery, deeply embedded in a lineage-based aristocracy, functioned not only as an economic driver but also as a hereditary status system that reinforced elite dominance and self-preservation. Using the concept of “servile society” (a society in which strong asymmetrical dependency...