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Postwar Pines: The Military and the Expansion of State Forests in Post-Imjin Korea, 1598–1684

Lee, John S.

Postwar Pines: The Military and the Expansion of State Forests in Post-Imjin Korea, 1598–1684 Thumbnail


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Abstract

This article explains why the Chosŏn government and the military in particular expanded state control over forests in the seventeenth century and analyzes the implications of forest administration in a preindustrial polity. From 1592 to 1598, the Chosŏn dynasty suffered invasions from Japan that displaced much of the Korean population and devastated the economy and environment. The crucial role of the navy during the war, along with a dire postwar situation, heightened government anxieties about deforestation and timber scarcity. Thus, in the seventeenth century, the Chosŏn government expanded administration over forests, particularly pine forests, across the coasts and islands of southwestern Korea. The key vehicle for the expansion was the military. Due to wartime and postwar exigencies, the military became the late Chosŏn state's primary organ for management of wood resources for state purposes. Furthermore, the growth of pine-centric state forests and shifts in military priorities would significantly reshape Korean ecologies.

Citation

Lee, J. S. (2018). Postwar Pines: The Military and the Expansion of State Forests in Post-Imjin Korea, 1598–1684. The Journal of Asian Studies, 77(2), 319-332. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021911817001322

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Mar 25, 2018
Publication Date 2018-05
Deposit Date Sep 19, 2019
Publicly Available Date Nov 8, 2021
Journal The Journal of Asian Studies
Print ISSN 0021-9118
Electronic ISSN 1752-0401
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 77
Issue 2
Pages 319-332
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021911817001322
Related Public URLs https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/postwar-pines-the-military-and-the-expansion-of-state-forests-in-postimjin-korea-15981684(eb587adb-ba37-46a5-9d59-540d9efe4101).html

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in Journal of Asian Studies https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911817001322. This version is published under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND. No commercial re-distribution or re-use allowed. Derivative works cannot be distributed. © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2018




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