The Use and Meaning of “Ilshi Dong’in (一視同仁, treat everyone with the same benevolence)”, in the Late Goryeo and Early Joseon Periods

This paper aims to analyze the usage of a diplomatic discourse known as “Ilshi Dong’in”(一視同仁) during the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods, examining its characteristics and tracing changes in terms of its users and applications. First mentioned in Han Yu(韓愈)’s Yuanyin (『原人』) during the Tang Dynasty, the notion of “Ilshi Dong’in” originally referred to a specific type of governance by a sage king who would dispense benevolence without discriminating any region, people or race. However, coming into the mid-13th century, when the Mongol Yuan(元) Empire began to rule China, Ilshi Dong’in began to be actively employed as a political and diplomatic rhetorical device.Both the Yuan and Ming(明) Dynasties, after securing hegemony over the Chinese proper, used “Ilshi Dong’in” to appease and control neighboring states while asserting the authority of “the Son of Heaven”(天子). But the notion was never used by China against nearby regions unilaterally. On the Korean Peninsula, “Ilshi Dong’in” was widely utilized to address various issues during diplomatic negotiations with China. The term was conventionally referenced in regular diplomatic correspondence or communiques to the Yuan and Ming courts, and was strategically employed as a rhetorical tool to either secure China’s consent in granting Korea’s request, or pressure the Chinese court to comply with Korea’s demands.So, we can see that the notion of “Ilshi Dong’in” was used by both China and Korea, but in both cases there was a mutual agreement that the Emperor in China was the one who would utter those words and dispense said benevolence. Then, suddenly in the early years of the Joseon period, Joseon kings began to position themselves as presenters of such benevolence, the dispenser of “Ilshi Dong’in,” not only in domestic governance but also in their relationships with neighboring powers. This was likely based on their self-perception as regional rulers who should embody and practice the sage emperor’s benevolence, rather than an attempt to equate themselves with the Chinese emperor. By the reign of King Sejong, “Ilshi Dong’in” became more widely utilized in the Joseon society, with officials and even commoners invoking the term when petitioning to the Joseon king or court in order to express their needs or seek mercy.In this way, the discourse of “Ilshi Dong’in,” which had previously been centered around the Yuan (and later Ming) emperors during the late Goryeo period, expanded and diversified by the early Joseon period to include not only the Joseon kings but also their subjects. This reflects the broader and more dynamic usage of the term, as it transitioned from being a China-centric diplomatic concept into a multifaceted discourse deeply embedded within the Joseon society and its governance as well.