Mongmin simseo completed

In exile at Gangjin, Jeong Yak-yong completed the 48-volume Mongmin simseo, a guide for magistrates on governing the people.

Exiled to Gangjin in the Catholic persecution of 1801, Jeong Yak-yong spent 18 years there and wrote prolifically at his Dasan Chodang retreat. With Gyeongse yupyo, on reforming central institutions, and Heumheum sinseo, on criminal justice, the book forms his best-known trio of works on statecraft.

Mongmin simseo sets out, in 12 parts and 72 articles, a magistrate’s duties from taking up office to leaving it, and exposes how local officials preyed on the people. Jeong was released that year and returned home to Majae.