Sokoh Army

Sokoh Army (束伍軍) was a unit organized in Late Joseon for the purpose of local defense.¹ Under King Seonjo 27 (1594), it was formed on the basis of Qi Jiguang's Gihyo Sinseo, out of a reflection that the Jingwan system before the Imjin War had not functioned properly due to various forms of military service evasion and payment of cloth in lieu of service (방군수포), and therefore had failed to respond adequately to the Japanese invasion. In the early stage of its organization, both commoners (양인) and low-born people (천민) were subject to military service, but before long, evasion of military service spread again, and the cloth payment made in place of service became disordered through the greed of local officials. The unit gradually degenerated into a form composed only of low-born people and commoners without influence, and came to be called the Cheonye Army (賤隷軍, "army of lowly servants"). Ultimately, by the end of the Joseon period, unlike the central Five Military Commands, the local military became nominal in name only, and it was helpless in the face of various rebellions and popular uprisings.

Establishment

The military organization of early Joseon followed the system of universal military obligation for commoners (良人皆兵制), under which all commoners were liable for military service as regular soldiers (正兵), who were deployed according to the Jingwan system. Regular soldiers, drawn from adult males aged 16 to 60,² were operated on an 8-rotation, 2-month system (八番二朔相遞), in which eight divided rotations were called up in turn, and each rotation served for two months once mobilized.³ However, yangban were exempted from military service on the grounds that they held various official posts or were registered as teachers at local Hyanggyo schools. Wealthy commoners also escaped service by hiring substitutes or paying cloth in place of service. By the late 16th century, military service had become so concentrated on a limited segment of the population that the Jingwan system could no longer be maintained and had become nominal. Joseon responded through the Jeseung Bangnyak system, which dispatched forces scattered among the various Jingwan to strategically important points, but this was merely a temporary measure. As a result, when the Imjin War broke out, Governor Yi Il (순변사 ), Gyeongsang Provincial Governor , and others had to face the Japanese army without support from rear units, and they were defeated due to insufficient forces against superior numbers. After the Imjin War fell into a lull, Joseon felt keenly the need for military reorganization, and under the new system it established the in the capital and the Sokoh Army in the provinces.