Ju Se-bung

Ju Se-bung(周世鵬, 1495–1554)was a scholar and civil official of Joseon who founded the seowon academies. His family seat was Sangju (尙州), his courtesy name was Gyeongyu (景遊), his art names were Sinjae (愼齋), Sonong (巽翁), and Namgo (南皐), and his posthumous name was Munmin (文敏).

생애

Ju Se-bung was a disciple of Bang Yu-ryeong (方有寧), who served as Left Vice Minister of Personnel and Vice Minister of War. In 1522 (17th year of King Jungjong's reign), he passed the special civil service examination and became a Jeongja at the Seungmungwon. After serving as a sagadokseo scholar-in-residence, he held posts such as Gyeomyeol and Vice Compiler, but in connection with raising the petition of Yi Hang in a public setting, he was rebuffed by Kim An-ro and demoted. Afterward, he served as magistrate of Gonyang and then as magistrate of Punggi, where he left behind many anecdotes.

While he was magistrate of Punggi, there was a commoner who quarreled with his younger brother over property. Ju Se-bung had the elder brother carry his younger brother on his back and walk around the courtyard of the government office all day. When the man was thoroughly exhausted, he was summoned and asked, "When you carried your younger brother as a child, did you have any thought of snatching things from him?" It is said that he felt ashamed of his greed and withdrew. In the course of this, many people mocked Ju Se-bung, but before long they were impressed by his skill. The historiographer of the Veritable Records evaluated him as "barely knowing Confucian learning, yet having transformed many people."

In 1542 (37th year of King Jungjong's reign), he built a shrine in Baekundong to Ahn Hyang, a scholar of the late Goryeo period. The following year, he established the Baekundong Seowon (Sosu Seowon), which was the first seowon in Korea. The Veritable Records entry of May 22, 1541 recorded: "Schools were established on the left and right of the shrine as dwellings for Confucian students, grain was stored in modest amounts and lent out at interest, and the outstanding people of the entire county were gathered there to eat and study. When the site was first being prepared, more than three hundred geun of copper vessels were obtained from digging the ground, and books were bought from China; not only the classics but all the writings of Cheng and Zhu were included, and reading and practice were not neglected."