EconomyJanuary 1678(Lunar)

Sangpyeong tongbo Coin

On the advice of Heo Jeok and others, Sukjong made the Sangpyeong tongbo the legal coinage and had it minted widely; by the late 18th century it circulated nationwide.

A Sangpyeong Tongbo cash coin cast by the Ministry of Taxation
Mint Hojo - 戶曹 - 호조 (Korean). · Public domain · Source

The coin was first cast under Injo (1633) but saw little use. As trade grew, Sukjong made it legal tender in 1678 and had many government offices and army garrisons mint it. By the late eighteenth century taxes and rents could be paid in coin across the country.

But landlords and merchants hoarded coins for usury, causing a shortage of money in circulation (jeonhwang); Yi Ik argued for abolishing coinage altogether.

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States and rulers at the time: Joseon — Sukjong

People

Sukjong1661 – 1720
monarch · Nineteenth king of Joseon, who used factional reversals to strengthen the throne
Heo Jeok1610 – 1680
leader · Southerner chief state councillor who had the Sangpyeong tongbo coin minted for general use; ousted and executed in the 1680 change of power

Before and after

Earlier: 1678 Choryang Waegwan built
Later: 1680 Sukjong’s Changes of Power (Hwanguk)

Themes that include this event

History of Korean CurrencyAD 996 – 1905
From Geonwon Jungbo to the 1905 currency reform — how coins took hold in an economy of rice and cloth, and how monetary sovereignty was lost