Reading Adultery in the Criminal Records of Late Chosŏn Korea

Jisoo Kim, George Washington University

This presentation introduces the records of criminal cases in the Simnirok (Records of Royal Reviews), a collection compiled during the reign of Chŏngjo (r. 1776-1800). This collection includes 1,112 judicial precedents related to homicide, economic crimes such as counterfeit and theft, and social crimes such as arson and gravesite dispute. The majority of 1,004 crimes are related to homicide (964 cases) and suicide (40 cases). This presentation will first explain the source and translate the few selected homicide cases related to adultery. While translating the cases, it will also discuss sex crime in the context of eighteenth-century Korea.

CCCC is a reading group for students and scholars with an interest in premodern Sinographic text.

All are welcome, at any level of experience with classical Chinese. Please email us to register and receive the log-in credentials.

At each session, one participant presents a text in classical Chinese. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, and work together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.

Presentations include works of all sorts, from the earliest times to the twentieth century.

No preparation required: all texts will be distributed at the meeting.