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The Nobi’s power and economic conditions in the Joseon Dynasty A challenge to
their social status as slaves 1600s-1800s

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Carolina E. Santiago Álvarez November 13, 2019

The Nobi’s power and economic conditions in the Joseon Dynasty: A challenge to their

social status as slaves 1600s-1800s 조선의 노비: 노예와 농노

Abstract: ​Korean History Scholars have long debated the legal status and economic privileges

that the nobi in Joseon Society came to enjoy, and have determined that even if nobi still

remained hereditary legal property of their masters, nobi should be considered serfs and not

slaves because of their economic privileges. This research tries to understand how these

conclusions of Korean History Scholars challenge the nobi’s social characterization as slaves,

and slavery as an institution in general. It has found that the relative economic freedom that nobi

experienced, allowed them to relieve their social status as slaves and give them back control and

power over their own lives, as well as a fair amount of riches, influence, and even their freedom.

Joseon peasants would even voluntarily become nobi in order to access these economic benefits.

Therefore, this research concludes that Nobi serfdom conditions in the Joseon Society challenge

their legal status as slaves and the slavery institution in general.

The Joseon Dynasty and Joseon Society: ​The Joseon Dynasty was one of the longest-lived
1
dynasties in the world. It began in 1394 with the collapse of the Goryeo Dynasty at the hands of

General Yi Song Gye who later became the first Joseon King, and ended when Korea became a
2
colony under the Japanese Empire in 1910. The Joseon Dynasty is known for its magnificent

palaces, culture, traditions, writings and philosophy. The most famous Wang of the Joseon

Dynasty is King Sejong the Great, he reformed many political aspects of Joseon, created the

1
​Michael J. Seth, ​A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2012), 159.
2
Ibid, ​135.
Korean Language Script: ​Hangeul and implanted many Joseon Society reforms, including
3
measures surrounding the nobi class. ​Joseon Society was made up of 4 classes: the Yangban

(양반) the Jungin (중인), the Sangmin (상민) and the Cheonmin (천민). The Yangban was the

aristocratic class, composed of the scholar gentry, military officials and the royal family. The

Jungin class was the upper middle bureaucratic class of the Joseon Dynasty and they were

considered the lower Yangban class. It was composed of highly skilled workers (such as

musicians, engineers and physicians) whose skills were needed by the Yangban in order to

remain above the rest of the lower classes including the Jungin themselves and the Sangmin and

the Cheonmin. The Jungin included some military officers, and minor scholar gentry, they were

the smallest social class in Joseon. Both the Yangban and the Jungin class were exmpt from

military services and did not pay taxes. The Sangmin were the common folk of Korea and the

largest social class. They were composed of poor peasants, farmers and fisherman. Joseon

Society was based on the bulk of this class. The Sangmin paid taxes and were subject to comply

with the military draft. The last class of the Joseon Society were the Cheonmin. The Cheonmin

in turn was subdivided into two classes; the baekjeong (백종) and the nobi (노비). The baekong

was made up of small groups of people that were considered “undesirables” and “untouchable”

by the rest of Joseon Society, mainly because they performed butchery and executioner work that

was seen as dirty and obscene by the Confucianist and Buddhist Joseon, even if Joseon people

consumed meat regularly. Butchery work included leather making. They were highly

discriminated by the rest of the Joseon Society. Michael J. Seth argues that the baekjeong had an
4
even lower social status than nobi. The Baekjeong were forbidden from carrying last names,

3
​Ibid, 159.
4
​Ibid, 307.
wearing silk and finery. Even if a person was the great grandson of a butcher and had by some

lucky chance risen in Joseon Society as a Sangmin (highly unlikely) the person was still

considered an undesirable.

T​he Nobi: ​The Nobi were the other class integrated into the Cheonmin layer of Joseon. Contrary

to what may be believed when observing Joseon Society for the first time, the Nobi generally

were not submitted to cruel discriminatory policies as the Baekjeong were. Who exactly were the

Nobi? Legally speaking, the nobi were people, groups of people or families who served and were

owned for life by a member of the upper classes (such as the Yangban) or the Government

(usually these nobi worked in government institutions). Those owned by the government were

Public Nobi ​(sanobi), and those serving a member of the upper classes were ​Private Nobi
5
(kongnobi). An imperative pause here must be made to point out that some Nobi did come to

own their own nobi. Especially those Nobi who had become rich through the accumulation of

side working wealth. The Nobi could either be sold, bought or gifted and were, legally the lowest
6
ranking class of Joseon. Nobi could purchase their freedom, earn it through military service, or
7
receive it as a favor from the government. For example, when some public Nobi helped King

Sejo usurp the throne from his nephew King Danjong, they were freed. The Nobi class had

originated in the Goryo Dynasty before Joseon, but “slavery” had existed in Korea since ancient

times. It had suffered ebbing and flowing during the Goryeo Dynasty, but it rose to prominence

during the early Joseon Dynasty, since owning Nobi and land was considered a sign of

5
​Michael J. Seth, ​A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2012), 178.
6
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 154.
7
​Michael J. Seth, ​A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2012),​168.
prosperity. The title of Nobi was hereditary. Meaning that if you were a nobi under a Yangban,

your great grandchildren will be the nobi of the future generation of the current Yangban you

serve. Being of hereditary position also meant that nobi families were separated among members

of their Yangban masters, especially after a prominent Yangban died and divided his nobi
8
between his children. It is important to point out that some members of the Nobi class had

voluntarily become Nobi in order to escape poverty during famines and dire farming conditions.

Milan Hejtmanek in ​Devalued Bodies, Revalued Status: Confucianism and the Plight of Female

Slaves in Late Joseon Korea,​ ​explains how during times of famine, commoners and farmers

would take their children and sometimes their families to a government relief office, with the

understanding that they would become nobi in time if the family head didn’t come to pick them

up in 90 days. Powerful Yangban as a political move also sold their children and wives into the
9
nobi system. Others became Nobi because they could not pay their debts, or because they had

committed a crime. Becoming a nobi and dooming your future generations to Nobi status was the

legal punishment.

The relationship between Nobi and master, whether Public or Private followed the teachings of

Confucianism. Nobi were considered an extension of their owners and owed fealty to them,

while their owners in turn were in charge of nurturing them, taking care of them when they were

sick and chastise them if necessary in order to gain their respect. Nobi weren’t allowed to have

family names, like the Baekjeong and other groups within Joseon Society and often had belittling

first names that often meant “dog” or “filth”. Kim Bok Rae points out that some of the public

8
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 155.
9
​ ilan Hejtmanek, ​Devalued Bodies, Revalued Status: Confucianism and the Plight of Female Slaves in Late
M
Joseon Korea ​(New York: SUNY Press, 2011), 146.
Nobis who helped King Sejo come to power who were freed, adopted more respectable first

names. Nobi also had to comply with certain rules about their clothing. Their ​hanbok (traditional

Joseon clothing) had to be strictly made up of cotton or hemp; only the Yangban class could

wear silk ​hanbok​. The Yangban often treated their nobi or other nobi as well as the Sangmin

class with repudiating manner. However, the nobi needed to maintain the highest respect toward

their master and other higher social classes. If a nobi dared to badmouth a Yangban he or she

could be sent up to 3 years of prison.

North Korean Scholar; Kim Sok Hyong divides the private Nobi class into two groups; the

Household Nobi, and the Out-resident Nobi. The Household Nobi worked inside the Yangban’s

residence, while the Out-resident Nobi lived far away from the Yangban masters they served.

The Household Nobi performed domestic chores within the household, served as personal

attendants to members of the Yangban family and received a monthly salary. They were a

smaller group than the Out-resident Nobi. The Out-resident Nobi were given two pieces of land

by their Yangban masters in their out of city estates ​Nongang 논강to farm, the produce yielded

from the first land was given to their Yangban master, but the produce from the second land they

could keep for themselves or sell. They were registered as independent family groups, and had

their own houses. Both Household Nobi and Out-resident Nobi could engage in other activities

after working hours to gain supplementary wages. Kim Bok Rae in ​Nobi: A Korean System of

Slavery ​analyzes the Nobi’s part to play in the Joseon Dynasty. The author also explains how and

why the Nobi system went into decline and was abolished in 1894. Kim Bok Rae divides that

Public and the Private Nobis into two subgroups; the tribute paying Nobi and the Corvee Nobi.

Nobis payed tribute in rolls of cloth annually. A Male Nobi had to pay 2 rolls of cloth while the
Female Nobi had to pay 1.5. Tribute Nobis were exempt from military service and corvee work.

This might seem like an attractive social position, however, tribute paying Nobis would need to

pay twice that amount in late Joseon. Differently from Kim Sok Hyong, Kim Bok Rae

understands that the “Out-resident” Nobi should be considered “Agricultural” Nobis and furthers

divides them into three groups; those who cultivated the land directly under the domain of their

masters, those who worked two pieces of land and the Nobis who worked in a métaye system.

The Métaye system was introduced in Joseon Society and became the dominant one in the 18​th
10
century.

Serfs vs. Slaves: ​It is important to understand that many if not all of the scholarly work

surrounding the Nobi debates on whether or not the Nobi class should be categorized as serfs or

slaves by their western definition from both the social and economic point of view. The North

Korean scholar, Kim Sok Hyong, understands that because of their differences and way of life,

Household Nobi were slaves while Out-resident Nobi were serfs. Since the latter group was far

more numerous than the Household Nobi, he concludes that in reality the Nobi in the Joseon

Dynasty were more serfs than slaves. Kim Bok Rae in ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery also

explores the dispute of classifying nobi between serf and slave. The author parts from the judicial

perspective of H. Kressig’s term of slavery; that which states that a slave is a person who is the

legal property of another human being. From this definition, the author then states that nobis

could be considered slaves, but from an economic point of view nobis were more serfs. For

example, the 1670 census reveals a large number of registered nobi families. The registration

implies that there were more nobis working the land as individual groups even if they still had

10
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 153-155.
masters. The author also points out that Nobi weren’t commercialized in Joseon as much as they

were in the Greek, Roman or in the New World slave societies. Trade in Nobis was much

smaller in scale. A record from the province of Daegu in southern Joseon from 1687-90, states

that only 14 of the 5,992 nobis available were sold. Kim also points out that nobis in Joseon
11
weren’t socially “dead” as Patterson’s definition of slaves states. Nobi had their own work

communities, they ate and drank and sat down at the same table as commoners did, and even

participated in festivals. Although Kim Bok Rae does not discuss it, nobis were also allowed to

petition the King or the government whenever they suffered and injustice or a grievance. For

example, a public slave called Yeonni petitioned the government to punish commoner Jong
12
Panbong since he had murdered Yeonni’s husband. Kim also argues that if nobis were deemed

as “slaves” as in their western definition the Joseon Kings wouldn’t have been so worried about

them. The author brings up how King Taejong explicitly wrote down in his annals about how it

was necessary to treat the nobi generously and how the Joseon people and the country needed to
13
embrace the nobi class accordingly. Another example is King Sejong the Great. Which both

Kim Bok Rae in Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery and Yi Pae Yong (from Ewha University in

Seoul) in ​Women in Korean ​address. In the 16​th year of his reign (1434), King Sejong declared

that it was not fair that a husband whose wife had just given birth was not allowed to have

maternity leave and help his wife, and that because of this, wives died after childbirth. Therefore,
14
he gave a maternity leave for husbands whose wives had just given birth for 30 days. Other

11
Ibid, 156.
12
Jisoo M. Kim,​ ​The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status and Legal Performance in Choson Korea​ (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2015), 117-118.
13
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 156.
14
​Pae Yong Yi, ​Women in Korean History 한국 역사 속의 여성들 (​ ​Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press, 2008),
267.
examples of Joseon Wang who were preoccupied with the nobi were King Sejo, King Yeongjo

and King Jeongjo. King Sejo’s annals state how nobis are an extension of the yangban and how
15
they should be accommodated by the yangban. King Yeongjo began a gradual emancipation
16
process of nobi in 1775 while his son; King Jeongo enacted legal reforms lightened the burden
17
on nobis and led to almost total emancipation of government slaves in 1801.

Rhee Young Hoon and Yang Donghyu of Seoul National University in, ​Korean Nobi in

American Mirror: Yi Dynasty Coerced Labor in Comparison to the Slavery in the Antebellum

Southern United States,​ view the dispute of whether or not calling nobi “Joseon slaves” is correct

by comparing it to slavery in the United States. They compare the ​nobi system in Joseon to black

slavery in the American South, highlighting their similarities and difference and coming to a

conclusion on the definition of Nobi basing themselves on them. They express that ​both the

black slave population and the Nobi in Joseon at one point made up 1/3 of the population, and

that both were personal property of their masters. They also state that both groups could be ​sold,

bought or inherited and were fed and clothed by their masters while working for them. On the

other hand, they understand that ​t​he average size of nobi holding Yangban (Joseon ruling class)

was much smaller than slave holding by American planters and cases of exuberant nobi holding

by the Yangban, royal families and bureaucrats had even more nobis than the biggest slave

holders in the United States. The more nobi a Yangban household owned, the more of them

became independent nobi with property rights. ​They also state that while black slaves remained

15
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 153.
16
​ artin A. Klein, ​Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
M
2014), ​13.
17
​Milan Hejtmanek, ​Devalued Bodies, Revalued Status: Confucianism and the Plight of Female Slaves in Late
Joseon Korea ​(New York: SUNY Press, 2011), ​140-141.
isolated from free people to the last because of their foreign origin, skin color and religious

beliefs, the nobi were mixed in with the freemen in Joseon society without a clear distinctive

line, something very different from the Southern American slavery. Because of all these reasons,
18
nobi cannot be considered slaves. James B. Palais of Yonsei University in South Korea also

follows are similar line to the prior authors. In ​Views on Korean History he understands that ​nobi

in the Joseon dynasty, were closer to serfs than true slaves since they enjoyed more freedom and
19
independence than what a slave would normally be allowed in Europe and America. Michael J.

Seth does not even argue on the subject, he simply states that there is much controversy between
20
labeling nobi as serfs or slaves.

Decline of the Nobi Class: ​The Nobi System began declining in the 18​th century, and by 1894,

the nobi class was completely emancipated. Kim Bok Rae understand that this happened because

of a decrease in Nobi population, the collapse of Nobi prices and the change in what it meant to

be a Nobi. ​The population of Yangban increased in proportion to the rest of the Joseon classes

such as the nobi. For example, in places like Un Yang the Yangban class made up 80.4% of the
21
population, while the Nobi class only made up 0.3%. This imbalance in the Joseon population

caused the traditional social hierarchy to dissolve. Of course, this change in population wasn’t

simply because the Nobi had less children while the Yangban had more. The acquiring of

Yangban status had a lot to do with it. Beginning from the 17​th century, the Yangban was divided

18
​Young Hoon Rhee and Donghyu Yang, ​Korean Nobi in American Mirror: Yi Dynasty Coerced Labor in
Comparison to the Slavery in the Antebellum Southern United States ​(​Seoul: Institute of Economic Research, 1996).
19
​James B. Palais, ​Views on Korean social history ​(​Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1998), ​3-5.
20
​Michael J. Seth, ​A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2012), 178.
21
​Chong Bum Yi and Won Ku Choi, ​An introduction to Korean Modern and Contemporary History​ (Seoul: Hye An
Publishing Company, 1995), 38.
into two categories: those that held government power, and those that were excluded from it.

Certain yangbans were thrown off the power wheel in political schemes and many Sangmin or

Cheonmin acquired Yangban status through money and military exploits. During times of

financial crisis, the Joseon Wang sold an exuberant amount of Yangban titles which were

purchased by rich commoners or even rich Cheonmin who were eager to acquire status,

exemption from military service and economic wealth, and exploit the class members that were

now were beneath them. Higher ranking nobi who had become rich by exploiting the nobi they
22
owned or the nobi they were in charge of, bought their freedom. Additionally, because of

financial crises, many yangban when politically disgraced and lost everything and even became

nobis themselves. There was also less nobi because they ran away in massive amounts. During

the 1500s, 20% of the nobi population escaped annually. This percentage of flight was even

more encouraged when the Japanese invasions of Korea during the same time frame led toward a

disappearance of official documentation on Nobi families. For example, in Dansung the

percentage of Nobi flight jumped up to 51% after the invasions. During the golden age of the

Nobi System, nobi became a prominent sign of wealth with the price of one nobi being 100

yangs (this equals to about 20 to 30 sacks of rice). This dropped to 10 yangs by the 1700’s due in

part of state managing of the nobi market (in order to eliminate ownership disputes and social

disturbances that arose from separating nobi families), but mostly due to the reducing of

individual yangban wealth through the state. Less wealth for the yangban families meant smaller

estates. Smaller estates meant less need for agricultural labor, less need for agricultural labor

meant less buying of nobis. The decline of the price of nobi, also began changing their meaning.

22
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 153.
They now became laborers through a contract labor system. The author gives an example of a

farmer who sells his son into slavery on the conditions that his nobi status wouldn’t be passed on

to his son’s children. The farmer then resells his son later on through the same condition. Legally

the son was still a nobi, but his work and life was that of a hired laborer. These had begun

growing through Joseon as farmers were been kicked out of their land. The government also

began changing the nobi system, mainly because they were becoming ever more reliant on public

nobis to not only participate in the military, but also contribute taxes in grain because of financial

matters. They first fixed the number of nobi per province, reduced the tribute they had to pay and

then eliminate the tribute payment for female nobis (both public and private). Incorporated

private nobis into the army, suspended tribute payments in times of famine, promoted the

movement of nobis up the commoner ranks, imposed limits on nobi prices and protected
23
runaway private nobis from being hunted down by their yangban masters. Joseon scholars were

also worried about the moral and social structure implications of the nobi system, for example

Scholar Yi Ik (1681-1763) criticized severely the Korean hereditary nobi system for being a
24
harsh one. Junius P. Rodríguez in ​The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery e​ xplains that

the dynasty ​was very worried about the nobi system, especially with the inherited status of nobi

that parents passed onto their children because they were worried about the balance between the
25
commoner and the nobi class. In 1894 the Nobi System was abolished under the Kabo
26
Reforms.

23
Bok Rae Kim, ​Nobi: A Korean System of Slavery (​ London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2005), 157-163.
24
Ibid, 153.
25
​Junius P. Rodriguez, ​The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery ​(​Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1997), ​392-393.
26
​Michael J. Seth, ​A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present​ (​Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
2012),263.
Analysis: ​The Society of Joseon was a rich and diverse one, and the nobi class exemplifies that

perfectly. From any scholar perspective, the division and subdivisions within the nobi and their

unique life conditions are intriguing and leave much to wonder. The general consensus among

Korean Scholars that the Nobi were more similar to serfs than slaves, begs us to answer the

question if Nobi as serfs really should be even be close to considering nobis as slaves and wether

or not they should truly be included in the western definition of Slavery, since their position

allowed them to acquire a certain degree of power and handling knowledge over their own life

and destiny. We can argue that slavery in the Western World, specifically in the

Mercantilist/Imperial slave trade while also based on “someone owning someone”, it included

much more different aspects such as racial and ethical discrimination, stereotyping and

inferiorization. While there is no denying that nobis did suffer physical and emotional abuse at

the hands of other groups within Joseon Society, they were never racially or ethnically

segregated, because at the end of the day they were part of the same people group that made up

Joseon Society (in other words they were Koreans), and even if their skin was tanned from

working in the sun, and higher ups did point this out there was no such thing as “you’re inferior

because of the color of your skin”. The Nobi had the same cultural, religious and traditional

practices as the people who owned them. They never were a completely, separated ethnicity or

racial group. Additionally, as we have seen in the text, nobis enjoyed certain liberties that slaves

in the Western slave trade system could not enjoy. Nobi were free after their work hours to either

engage in other businesses or enjoy “free time” outside of their master’s land. They were never

forbidden, or more exactly boxed up to remain in a certain place forever. They were a group of

people who had their own (dare I say) social interactions and relationships, a far cry from the
slaves in the Western Mercantilist/Imperial slave trade. The most important item to point out is

the economic aspect of the argument. Slaves in the Western Mercantilist/Imperial slave trade did

not come to enjoy the economic benefits that the Nobi did. They were never allowed to work

outside of their work hours and accumulate additional riches that could eventually lead to them

buying their own freedom or owning their own slaves. There is also the concept of fixed salary.

They weren’t allowed to sell some of their produce to gain monetary value or let alone engage in

the act of selling and buying. And, even if this argument might be considered a stretch, we have

the fact that commoners who were not nobi, who were literally serfs, preferred to become a part

of the nobi system. If independent farmers of the state and their families who held their own

freedom, choose consciously to become Nobi, then perhaps we can come to the conclusion that

being a Nobi wasn’t so bad after all, and that economic benefits that came with the “job

description” was more than enough to attract the free commoners of Joseon Society. We also

have the relative legal rights that nobi held, for example petitioning to the King. This system of

petition implied that the nobi had to leave his or her work area, walk to the main palace of Joseon

at the time (it could be either Gyeongbokgung or Chandeokgung, or another one) and ring the

gong in front of it for the amount of time it took until his or her petition was answered (it could

be days). This gave power to the nobi, so his or her voice could be heard, quite the contrary to

the slaves in the Western Mercantilist/Imperial slave trade, they could not even leave their

designated area.

Of course, the other side of the coin must also be considered, because, even if the benefits that

the Nobi enjoyed (whether economic or not) gave them their own degree of power and handling

knowledge over their own life and destiny. ​They did not stop being slaves​, ​they were still the
property of someone else. The supplementary earnings they gained could be seized by their

master, their master could seize the whole amount of produce the out-resident nobi grew, even

that portion which “belonged” to the nobi. The master could whip, punish and treat the nobi as

they wished. At the end of it all, the nobi did remain at the mercy of their master who always had

the last word. Additionally even if nobi were truly living in their best economic conditions with

benevolent masters, they wouldn’t have fled in the amounts that they did. Also to consider is that

the records and the research that has been examined is written primarily by the Yangban, because

it will be rare to find a written account left behind by a nobi in itself because the majority of nobi

couldn’t read or write. Taking in account all that has been discussed previously, perhaps it would

be prudent to say that even if the nobi enjoyed benefits that did give them power over their own

lives, they were serfs submitted to slavery status. This is of course, if we wish to find parallels of

the nobi to western example or if we wish to explain who the nobi were in western terms. I

propose that instead of trying to identity the nobi as slaves or serfs, we identity them as who they

truly were… nobi. 노비가 노비는 있어요. 감사합니다.

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