A Comprehensive Study of the Silla Oesajŏng(外司正)

This study examines how the Silla Oesajŏng(外司正, Officials inspecting local administration) was established and operated, its duties, and its significance in Silla local governance. The Oesajŏng were local officials, dispatched two for each Ju(州, province) and one for each Gun(郡, county), and were basically in charge of the Gun-level units. They were stationed in the Ju and Gun and were under the command of the Dodok(都督, the chief of Ju) and Taesu(太守, the chief of Gun). Oesajŏng seems to have been modeled after the Lushicanjun(錄事參軍, Administrative Supervisor) and Zhubu(主簿, recorder) line of local officials in charge of inspections in the Zhou(州, county) and Xian(县, prefecture) of the Tang dynasty. Being inside the local administrative unit made it easier for them to supervise entire administration and prevent problems. Silla also set the same type of local inspection system as the basic direction and established Oesajŏng. Oesajŏng's duties were inferred from the cases of the Sajŏngbu(司正府, Department of Inspection) and the Tang dynasty. The most basic and important duties of Oesajŏng were to inspect the officials and local administrations. Supervision of the document administration process of the local administrative units would have been a common form of inspection. It is also believed that Oesajŏng handled various judicial affairs and managed a variety of tasks. Oesajŏng's main targets of inspection were the class with indigenous influence, who were in charge of administration at local government offices. Silla designed a new system called Oesajŏng to strengthen local control by reducing their autonomy and influence. Next, Gun functioned as the superior local administrative unit to Hyŏn(縣, prefecture) in administrative system in the middle period. It can be said that Oesajŏng was introduced to establish a strict command and supervision system between the Gun and Hyŏn.