A Study on Oh Hoeng-muk's Regional Politics and the Memorial Stele for Him: Focusing on Gyeongsang Region

Chaewon Oh Hoeng-muk (1834-1906) served as a local magistrate in Jain, Haman, and Goseong in Gyeongsang Province during the late nineteenth century. His daily record, Chongsoerok (Record of Comprehensive Affairs), written during his tenure, vividly illustrates both his close observation of local conditions and his persistent efforts to improve the lives of the residents. Between 1888 and 1894, the Gyeongsang region was repeatedly struck by natural disasters, leaving the population in an acutely impoverished state. The central government, however, lacked sufficient fiscal resources to provide adequate relief. In this context, Oh Hoeng-muk did not disregard the suffering of the people but instead sought to confront the crisis through cooperative governance between officials and commoners, the mobilization of local resources, and reforms in both the material and human structures of regional society. Jain, to which Oh was first appointed, was among the counties most severely affected by famine in Gyeongsang Province, while Haman and Goseong were both designated as nanchieup (“difficult-to-govern counties”). In Jain, he implemented kwŏnbun, a system of voluntary grain sharing, with great vigor. In Haman, he worked to suppress violent factional strife among the gentry, while actively engaging with the local intellectual class and mediating between competing social interests to resolve pressing issues. In Goseong, where overlapping tax burdens and heavy administrative demands created chronic instability, he devoted himself to famine relief but was ultimately forced to step down in the wake of civil disturbances. Around the time of his departure from office, Oh Hoeng-muk was honored by local residents through the erection of commemorative stelae. In Jain, the villagers of Il-eon-ri established the “Stele of Gratitude for Famine Relief and the Removal of Abuses”, which records that through his relief measures and elimination of entrenched abuses, scattered residents returned and local communities once again flourished. In Haman, the stele emphasizes his integrity and moral conduct, highlighting his care for the elderly and his relief activities for the poor. In Goseong, the “Stele Commemorating Oh Hoeng-muk’s Achievements at the Yeongnam Byulhyangsa” memorializes his contributions to the Yeongnam Byulhyangsa. These surviving monuments function not merely as commemorations of individual virtue but as markers of local politics, reflecting the aspirations and desires of the communities that erected them. The present study’s understanding of Oh Hoeng-muk’s regional administration and its commemoration necessarily remains limited, as it is based primarily on his diary and a small number of extant inscriptions. Future research will require the discovery of new local sources and comparative analysis, which may allow for a more comprehensive reassessment of his role in late nineteenth-century regional politics.