Kasa, Communication, and Public Opinion

In the second half of the Chosŏn period the vernacular poetic genre of the kasa, which dates back to late Koryŏ, was increasingly used to convey messages that may be considered political. Kasa together with sangso (petitions) to the king or his representatives, t’ongmun (circular letters), and kwaesŏ (wall posters) came to constitute a particular Korean form of the public sphere. Kasa sometimes functioned as alternatives to the petitions through which loyal subjects communicated their critical views of public affairs on the basis of the Confucian ideal of public opinion (kongnon). Two kasa discussed in detail in this article, Imgyet’an from the 1730s and Kŏch’angga from the 1840s, are examples of this. Such kasa might also be used to stir up sentiments that may have led to rebellion, as seems to have happened in the 1860s with Kŏch’angga, while historical sources provide references to a number of other kasa that are no longer extant but were linked to attempts to foment rebellion. Thus, the potential impact of kasa on public opinion was clearly recognized in late Chosŏn. After Korea had opened its borders and far into the twentieth century, kasa were frequently used to express political opinions and disseminate enlightenment ideas. This should not be regarded as an innovation that was exclusively due to the advent of “modernity,” but as the modified continuation of a tradition that had been established in late Chosŏn.