Hong Chi-jung (1667–1732) was a scholar-official and Prime Minister of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 18th century from 1729 to 1732. Hong Chi-jung, Naver encyclopedia
He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the 9th Edo period diplomatic mission to the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan.Walraven, Boudewijn et al. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies, p. 361; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 417; n.b., the name Kô tsi tsiou is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Hong tschi tchoung is a pre-McCune–Reischauer, Korean romanization devised by Julius Klaproth and Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat in 1834.
1719 mission to Japan In 1719, King Sukjong dispatched a diplomatic mission to the shogunal court of Tokugawa Yoshimune.Walraven, p. 361. This diplomatic mission functioned to the advantage of both the Japanese and the Koreans as a channel for developing a political foundation for trade.Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 48.
This delegation was explicitly identified by the Joseon court as a "Communication Envoy" (tongsinsa). The mission was understood to signify that relations were "normalized."Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between Chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan, pp. 21-24.
The Joseon embassy arrived in Kyoto on the 10th month of the 4th year of Kyōhō, according to the Japanese calendar in use at that time.Titsingh, p. 417. Hong Chi-jung was the chief envoy.
Recognition in the West Pak Tong-chi's historical significance was confirmed when his mission and his name was specifically mentioned in a widely distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.
In the West, early published accounts of the Joseon kingdom are not extensive, but they are found in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (published in Paris in 1832),Vos, Ken. "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1," p. 6. and in Nihon ōdai ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work.
See also Yeonguijeong Joseon diplomacy Joseon missions to Japan Joseon tongsinsa
Notes
References
Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003). Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan. London: Routledge. Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 84067437 Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 44–62, 124-128. Walraven, Boudewijn and Remco E. Breuker. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies; Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven. Leiden: CNWS Publications. ;
External links Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association ; 조선통신사연구 (Journal of Studies in Joseon Tongsinsa)