The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, sometimes called sillok () for short, are state-compiled and published records, called Veritable Records, documenting the reigns of the kings of the Joseon dynasty in Korea. Kept from 1392 to 1865, they comprise 1,893 volumes and are thought to be the longest continual documentation of a single dynasty in the world.

The records of the last two monarchs are believed to have been influenced by the Japanese colonial rule and, therefore, their credibility compromised. Excluding the records of the last two kings, the sillok is designated as the 151st national treasure of South Korea and listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World registry.

In 2006, the annals were digitized and made available online by the National Institute of Korean History. Both a modern-Korean translation in hangul and the original in Classical Chinese are available. In January 2012, the National Institute of Korean History announced a plan to translate them to English by 2033. The work was scheduled to start in 2014 with an initial budget of ₩500 million, but it was estimated that a total of ₩40 billion would be needed to complete the project.

Compilation process The Ch'unch'ugwan, overseen by the three High State Councillors, served as the state archive for administrative records. However, the eight historians of the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks in the Office of Royal Decrees () were responsible for maintaining daily records of official court activities. These historians accompanied the king at all times, and Joseon kings did not conduct official business without a historian present. The daily historical records produced by the eight historians were called sacho (), which served as the basis for the compilation.

After the death of a king, the veritable records, or sillok, of the deceased monarch's reign were compiled by a special committee known as the Sillokch'ŏng, or the Office of Annals Compilation. This committee included high-ranking officials and the most competent scholars. The compilation relied on various primary sources, including the sacho, historians' private memoranda, administrative records (), and the Seungjeongwon ilgi.

The compilation process consisted roughly of three phases. First, the primary sources were gathered, and the historians produced the first draft (). This draft was then refined into a second draft (), which was reviewed and finalized by high-ranking officials into a final draft (). Once finalized, the drafts, sacho, and the historians' private memoranda were pulped in water and expunged () to prevent leaks.

Great care was taken to ensure the integrity of the records; historians were guaranteed legal protection and editorial independence, especially from the king. Only the historians were allowed to read the sacho; if any historian disclosed or altered its contents, they were subject to severe punishment. Pulping and expunging the drafts and certain primary sources likely to contain historian commentary was a safety measure designed to insulate the historians from political influences and preserve the integrity of the records.

An oft-cited story in the sillok about King Taejong falling off his horse has been used to illustrate the commitment of Joseon court historians to documenting even events displeasing or embarrassing to the king and the extent to which the king could not influence which stories were included in the sillok:

The historian present defied King Taejong's order and ensured that not only the king's fall but also his wish to keep it off the record were documented. This happened in the 4th year of Taejong's reign, on the 8th day, 2nd month of the lunar calendar, equivalent to March 18, 1404, of the Julian calendar.

The records are written in Classical Chinese. The records of the first three kings of the Joseon dynasty—Taejo (), Jeongjong (), and Taejong ()—were handwritten. The records of Sejong () and later kings were printed using movable type, some wooden and others metal. Korea is the first nation in East Asia to have printed its royal records using movable type.

History Beginning in 1445, they began creating three additional copies of the records, which were deposited in various locations across Korea in hopes that one of them would survive. The locations included the Ch'unch'ugwan office in Seoul, Chungju County, Jeonju County, and Seongju County. Despite such precautionary measures, during the 1592–1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, all but the one in Jeonju were destroyed. The Jeonju records narrowly escaped destruction by fire only because several scholars had taken private initiative. After the war, the government began maintaining five repositories at Ch'unch'ugwan, Mount Myohyang, Taebaeksan, Odaesan, and Manisan.

The 1624 Yi Kwal's Rebellion resulted in the destruction of the Ch'unch'ugwan repository. It was not replaced; the government ultimately returned to printing four copies of the records and storing them at the other repositories. The Mount Myohyang copy was moved to Jeoksangsan in 1633. Part of the Manisan collection was lost during the 1636 Qing invasion of Joseon, and the surviving volumes moved to Jeongjoksan on Ganghwa Island in 1678.

During the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period, the records went under the control of the Japanese colonial government. The Jeongjoksan and Taebaeksan repositories were transferred to the holdings of Keijō Imperial University in Seoul (the city was then called "Keijō"). The Odaesan copies were taken to Tokyo Imperial University in Japan. There, they were mostly destroyed during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. The remaining 46 volumes in Japan were not returned to Korea until 2006.

The annals of the last two Joseon rulers, and , are controversial and considered by modern South Korean historians to lack the impartiality of the other sources. This is because Japanese officials interfered in their creation and curation. They are thus considered relatively separate from the other records, and are not included in the National Treasures of South Korea or UNESCO's Memory of the World register.

Around the 1945 liberation of Korea, the Jeoksangsan copies were partially looted during the instability; there are reportedly uncertain rumors that some of these copies were actually taken during the 1950–1953 Korean War to North Korea. The Jeongjoksan and Taebaeksan records were still held in the collection Kyujanggak, at Seoul National University (the successor to Keijō Imperial University). In the 1980s, the Taebaeksan copies were moved to the National Archives of Korea, Busan Center.

List +List of records English Hangul Hanja # volumes(gwon) # books(chaek) Monarch Start of compilation Notes 1 15 3 Taejo() 1413 2 6 1 Jeongjong 1426 3 36 16 Taejong() 1431 4 Veritable Records of Sejong 163 67 Sejong() 1454 5 13 6 Munjong() 1455 6 14 6 Danjong() 1469 Changed name from Diary of Nosangun (, ) in 1698. 7 49 18 Sejo() 1471 8 8 3 Yejong() 1472 9 297 47 Seongjong() 1499 10 63 17 Yeonsangun() 1509 11 105 53 Jungjong() 1550 12 2 2 Injong() 1550 13 34 21 Myeongjong() 1571 14 221 116 Seonjo() 1616 Revised Veritable Records of Seonjo 42 8 1657 15 187 64 Gwanghaegun() 1633 187 40 1653 16 50 50 Injo() 1653 17 21 22 Hyojong() 1661 18 22 23 Hyeonjong() 1677 28 29 1683 19 65 73 Sukjong() 1728 20 15 7 Gyeongjong() 1732 Revised Veritable Records of Gyeongjong 5 3 1781 21 127 83 Yeongjo() 1781 Renamed from Veritable Records of Yeongjong (, ) in 1899. 22 54 56 Jeongjo() 1805 Renamed from Veritable Records of Jeongjong (, ) in 1899. 23 34 36 Sunjo 1838 Renamed from Veritable Records of Sunjong (, ) in 1899. 24 16 9 Heonjong() 1851 25 15 9 Cheoljong() 1865 26 52 52 Gojong() 1934 Often excluded from the collection by Korean academics. 27 22 8 Sunjong() 1934

See also Seungjeongwon ilgi Samguk Sagi Samguk Yusa Goryeosa Office of the Yi Dynasty

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References

External links

English explanation of the official translation project Korea Heritage Service: The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty NAVER Encyclopedia