The Transformation and Political Meaning of Posthumous Promotion in the Korean Empire

This study examines the transformation of posthumous promotion (chujeung), an honorific distinction granted to the deceased, during the Korean Empire (1897–1910) from both institutional and political perspectives. In the Joseon dynasty, posthumous promotion functioned primarily as a ritual practice based on Confucian kinship order and lineage-based social norms, serving to honor ancestors of officeholders and reinforce familial prestige. During the Korean Empire, however, this system was reorganized as part of broader efforts to restructure state institutions and strengthen imperial authority within the framework of a modern state. Focusing on the revisions of posthumous promotion regulations in 1900, 1905, and 1908, this study analyzes the changes in institutional structure and patterns of operation, as well as the political meanings embedded in these reforms. In particular, following the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 (the Eulsa Treaty) and the loss of diplomatic sovereignty, Emperor Gojong employed posthumous promotion for martyrs as a symbolic means of resistance mediated through imperial authority, while also using it as a tool to represent the deceased as national figures. In this context, posthumous promotion functioned not merely as a posthumous honor, but as a political mode of expression operating within the limited political space available to the emperor. After 1908, however, the system was increasingly incorporated into the framework of Japanese honors, leading to a significant transformation in its character. This study argues that posthumous promotion was a flexible instrument of state governance, continually reconfigured in response to the shifting political circumstances of Korea’s transition into modernity.