After the Gabo Reforms, the civil service examination which was the official appointment system in the Joseon dynasty, was abolished. Each central departments tried to establish an independent recruitment system that took advantage of its characterist...
After the Gabo Reforms, the civil service examination which was the official appointment system in the Joseon dynasty, was abolished. Each central departments tried to establish an independent recruitment system that took advantage of its characteristics. The biggest characteristic observed in the bureaucratic changes during the period of Gabo Reforms was the weakening of monarchy and strengthening the authority of reformative bureaucrats. It made the authority of the minister, the head of each department, greatly strenthen and emphasized the independence of each departments. In order to overview the new recruitment system after the Gabo Reforms, it is necessary to understand how each central departments tried to establish an independent recruitment system by utilizing the characteristics of its work.
Since 1894, the Foreign Offices in Joseon, the Foreign Affairs-Amun and the department of Foreign Affairs, reorganized the organization within the department following the central bureaucratic changes and established new offices: the official translator and the aide of him. In order to appoint government officials suitable for the new organization, it was also necessary to change the appointment methods. Therefore, this study examined the specific recruitment methods implemented after the Gabo Reforms, focusing on the Foreign Office. Through analyzing the academic backgrounds and careers of the officials in the Foreign Offices using their resumes, it was possible to categorize their appointment routes. As a result, after the Gabo Reforms, there were three main routes of recruiting officials in the Foreign Office, which could be categorized as those from foreign language schools, overseas studying and the internship program in the Foreign Office.
Among them, the internship program had become the most important recruitment route in the Foreign Office since 1899, when the “Gwangmu Regime” was established aiming for strengthening the authority of Emperor Gojong. In other words, the recruitment system of the Foreign office was resulted in the practical internship training system in 1899, maintaining the tendency to value new educational experiences after the Gabo Reforms in 1894.