Problems with Korean Eunuchs

[JesusA (imported)]

A brief section from a much longer article on eunuchs in China, which has a brief note on the Korean case. There was nothing much of interest in the rest of the article about China.

The adoptive system was also used to recruit eunuchs, especially during the Chosun dynasty (1392-1910). According to Chosun adoptive law, it was customary to adopt a child with the same family name. However, the Chosun government permitted eunuchs to adopt a child with a different family name, to prevent the extinction of their lineage. The Kyongguk taejon (Complete Code of National Law, 1470) prescribed that a child adopted by the eunuch class should be under three years old, but that rule was not strictly enforced. There are many cases of eunuchs adopting intrinsically impotent or postnatally castrated boys (or occasionally normal boys) as their heirs. For instance, under the reign of King Sejong (1418-50) the eunuch Yong-gi Kim raised a child from infancy and made him a palace eunuch. Under the reign of King Myongjong (1545-67), the number of baby eunuchs dramatically increased, causing political tension. At times there were as many as four or five adopted baby eunuchs per person, doubling the expenditure of the royal warehouse.

Kim Bok-Rae. (2009). The Third Gender: Palace Eunuchs. IN: Children in Slavery Through the Ages, ed. by Gwyn Campbell, Suzanne Miers, & Joseph C. Miller. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, pp. 135-151.