The Pansa(minister) System of 6 Departments in Koryo Dynasty has been known as the legal system that Jaesin(present congressmen) occupied 6 departments. About this kind of perspective, the purpose of this study is to suggest that the Pansa System of 6 ...
The Pansa(minister) System of 6 Departments in Koryo Dynasty has been known as the legal system that Jaesin(present congressmen) occupied 6 departments. About this kind of perspective, the purpose of this study is to suggest that the Pansa System of 6 Departments has been over-evaluated as the occupation of 6 departments by Jaesins. The best manner how Jaesins occupied 6 departments was that Jaesins occupied the whole Pansa of 6 departments, but the reality did not appear like that.
Considering the whole dynasty or each King's reign of early Koryo Dynasty, the number of Jaesins were bigger than the number of Pansa of 6 departments. In other words, every Jaesin did not hold the office of Pansa of 6 departments. But if 6 Pansas of the departments all coexisted, it would be not doubtful that Jaesins occupied all Pansas of 6 departments.
But, it was rare that all 6 Pansas coexisted at the same time. Especially, at the point of the time when Pansas of 6 departments were appointed or dismissed, there were many cases that the number of Jaesins were less than 5. Therefore it was frequent that all Pansas of 6 departments were not occupied. Because the 6 Pansa were not appointed altogether, it appeared that the terms of vacancy of each Pansa was not short. So at that period, Jaesin could not occupy the whole corresponding 6 departments.
If the Pansa System of 6 Departments was the legal system that intended Jaesin to occupy 6 departments, King's refusal to appoint the corresponding Pansa would face the considerable opposition. Even though the vacancy of each Pansa was not short, there was not found such a document. Therefore, the perspective that Jaesin of Koryo Dynasty occupied 6 departments by 6 Pansas is not rational evaluation.
On the other side, the number and pattern of coexistent Pansas of 6 departments appeared various ways. In the whole period or each King's reign of early Korea Dynasty, the number of appointed Pansas of 6 departments was not only fixed, but the office of the appointed Pansas were also undetermined. This kind of variety has occurred due to the political and administrative needs and the corresponding King's descions.
The important point in the power relationship was the relation between Pansas of 6 departments and the direct appeal system to the King. It would be interesting to associate the direct appeal system of 6 departments with the fact that the Pansa system did not intend to appoint all the 6 Pansas. Even the 6 departments constantly governed national administration, Pansa of the corresponding departments might coexist or might not. In the case that Pansa did not exist, the King could directly grasp national administration through appeals from the departments without Jaesin's intervention. On the other side, only Jaesin who was appointed as Pansa of the department exercised his influence. In this case, Jaesin managed all the business of corresponding department, but it would be difficult to consider that Jaesin occupied the power of 6 departments.
Therefore, the Pansa system of 6 departments was the system that King as the center of national administration could appoint Pansa who could participate government activities. Conclusively, the Pansa system of 6 departments could not be assumed to make King's leadership powerless.
Keyword : Pansa(minister) of 6 departments, Jaesin (congress man) hold plural offices, occupy the 6 departments, direct appeals of 6 departments coexistence of Pansa of 6 departments, King's leadership