Nobi
Nobi were the slaves of premodern Korea. Male slaves (no) and female slaves ( pi) were owned, traded, and inherited, but a distinct feature of Korean slavery was that slaves could own property, including other slaves. The origin of this institution is obscure, but during the Koryo dynasty (918–1392) private estates and slave cultivators increased. During the Choson dynasty (1392–1910) about 30 percent of the population were slaves.
A distinct social status group in which membership was hereditary, nobi were divided into public and private slaves. Public slaves (kong nobi) were kept in temples, government offices, schools, and posting stations; private slaves (sa nobi) were divided into domestic servants and outside resident slaves (oego nobi) who worked on distant land owned by the master. The relationship of the latter group to the master was similar to one of tenants to a landlord.
Intermarriage of slaves and commoners was common. According to law, for most of the Choson dynasty the status of the mother decided her children's status, but in practice, if either parent was a slave, the children became slaves as well. The nobi population was also perpetuated by poor peasants who sold themselves into slavery. In 1801, public slavery was abolished; in 1886, slave status was abrogated; and in 1894, private slavery was outlawed.
Further Reading
Palais, James. (1996) Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
——. (1984) "Slavery and Slave Society in the Koryo Period." Journal of Korean Studies 5: 173–190.
Peterson, Mark. (1985) "Slaves and Owners; or Servants and Masters? A Preliminary Examination of Slavery in Traditional Korea." Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch 60: 31–41.
Unruh, Ellen. (1976) "The Landowning Slave: A Korean Phenomenon." Korea Journal 16, 4: 27–34.
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