South Korea Taxation

Tax Records (Segum Kirok)
Since the keeping of genealogies was practiced only by royalty and nobility until the 1900s, tax records are an indispensable source of data for persons of the lower classes in earlier centuries. Descendants of members of these classes need access to tax records to reconstruct their ancestry prior to the present century and to find clues to the provenance of other relevant records.

The majority of the Korean populace consisted of commoners (yangmin) including merchants, craftsmen, free laborers, fishermen, and farmers, both tenant farmers and those who owned their land. They accounted for about 60% of the population. Basically, anyone who was not enslaved and not of the higher classes would be classified as commoners. Commoners were obligated to pay taxes and perform forced labor for the state. The nobility (yangban) was exempt from taxation. Records exist from 1717 to present.

Local tax records contain names and residences of taxpayers and non-taxpayers. Temple tax records contain names, ages, birth order, family relationships, and names of fathers of slaves. About 15% of the population may be identified in these records. Most of the original records have been lost or destroyed. The remaining records are maintained under good conditions in the Kyujanggak collection, Seoul National University Library. Records appear not to be easily accessible to the general population.