ИСТИНА

The end of 12th – 13th century was a unique period in the history of Korea, because it was the time when the ruling power in Koryǒ belonged to military officials. In 1170 general Chŏng Chungbu led a military coup, in 1184 he was replaced by general Yi Ŭimin, and in 1196 general Ch’oe Ch’unghŏn seized the power and “founded” a military dynasty, who inherited from father to son for more than 60 years and ruled the country till 1258. After that military officials contended for power till 1270, when the civil government was finally reestablished. In 1170-1270 the political struggle was carried out mainly by violent means, but there was also the petition struggle – another form of action, much more traditional and typical for Korea in particular and for the Far Eastern region in the whole. Petition struggle means that officials unhappy with activities of other officials or with the state situation, could send a petition to a wang (monarch) in the form of complaints or recommendation, and the monarch considered the petition and made a final decision on the case. Current research is based on quantitative analysis of “Koryǒsa” (“History of Koryǒ”) text, parts “Sega” (“Chronicles of [Ruling] House”) and “Ch’oe Ch’unghŏn‘s Biography”. Search parameters were the following: presence of petitions from officials and common people, addressed directly to the monarch and containing criticism of the existing system, what would indicate the presence of unrest or instability in the country; presence of petitions with requests related to changes in rank system, what would mean an attempt of a group of officials to change the balance of power in their favor; presence of oral complaints to the monarch or highest rank officials; comments by historiographers and compilers of the chronicle about problems in the country. During the given period there were allocated 260 written and oral messages and references in the main text of the chronicle (“Sega”), and 62 in “Ch’oe Ch’unghŏn‘s Biography”. They were divided into several groups depending on their meaning and importance. The main conclusion of the research was that petition struggle was not a popular instrument of both civil and military officials during the military rule period. Methods of political struggle during the reign of Ch’oe radically contradicted to customary practice of Confucian society. However, the research shows some interesting tendencies in court life of the Wang dynasty and Ch’oe House, and confirms the uniqueness of Ch’oe regime in Koryǒ history.