[One Thousand Characters a Day] Joseon's Crisis Response Notes<3> - Sejong's Disaster Management

Editor's NoteAsia Economy provides daily 1,000-character transcription content for the 'Harumanbo Harucheonja' newsletter readers. The transcription content is carefully selected according to daily and monthly themes from Eastern and Western classics, Korean literature, notable columns, and famous speeches. Today, we examine King Sejong's disaster management capabilities as introduced in Dr. Kim Juntae's (Senior Researcher at the Institute of Korean Philosophy and Culture, Sungkyunkwan University) . When major fires or floods occurred in the country, Sejong swiftly managed the situation and worked hard to establish management systems and prevent recurrence to avoid the same damage. Word count: 1,035.

The proverb "locking the barn after the ox is lost" is usually used negatively, meaning that taking action after something has gone wrong is useless. However, at least in disaster response, if you lose the ox, you must fix the barn. Only then can you prevent losing another ox.

On February 15, 1426 (the 8th year of King Sejong's reign), a large fire broke out in the Hanyang Fortress. It was an unprecedented great fire that burned down 116 rooms of government offices including the Gyeongsi Office (京市署) and completely destroyed 2,170 private houses. The fire continued until the next day, destroying the Jeonokseo (典獄署) and about 200 more private houses. Even palace officials participated in extinguishing the fire to prevent it from spreading further.

When the fire occurred, Sejong took measures to supply food to the affected people, treat the injured, and provide funeral expenses for the deceased. He supplied timber so that people could rebuild their homes and granted long leaves to soldiers who were affected by the fire. Fire prevention measures were also implemented. Firewalls were built, and roads were widened to prevent the fire from spreading easily. Additionally, private houses were required to dig a well every five houses, and government offices dug two wells each to store water. Fire extinguishing devices were made and placed at key locations such as Jongmyo Shrine, the palace, and the bell pavilion, and response plans for each agency were organized in case of fire.

However, Sejong thought this was not enough. Unlike floods or droughts, fires are caused by people. With human effort, damage can be prevented or reduced. When the fire broke out, government offices were confused and failed to demonstrate proper disaster prevention capabilities. Therefore, Sejong decided to consolidate the scattered disaster prevention tasks into one dedicated agency responsible for prevention during normal times and immediate suppression when fires occur. This led to the establishment of the Geumhwadogam (禁火都監).

Thanks to the policy support that ensured the Geumhwadogam performed its duties well, subsequent large and small fires caused no significant damage. Although they lost the ox once, they firmly repaired the barn and did not lose another ox again.

- Kim Juntae, (Minumsa, 16,000 KRW)