Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty

The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, sometimes called sillok (실록) for short, are state-compiled and published records, called Veritable Records, documenting the reigns of the kings of the Joseon dynasty in Korea. Kept from 1392 to 1865, they comprise 1,893 volumes and are thought to be the longest continual documentation of a single dynasty in the world.
The records of the last two monarchs are believed to have been influenced by the Japanese colonial rule and, therefore, their credibility compromised. Excluding the records of the last two kings, the sillok is designated as the 151st national treasure of South Korea and listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World registry.
In 2006, the annals were digitized and made available online by the National Institute of Korean History. Both a modern-Korean translation in hangul and the original in Classical Chinese are available. In January 2012, the National Institute of Korean History announced a plan to translate them to English by 2033. The work was scheduled to start in 2014 with an initial budget of ₩500 million, but it was estimated that a total of ₩40 billion would be needed to complete the project.
The Ch'unch'ugwan, overseen by the three High State Councillors, served as the state archive for administrative records. However, the eight historians of the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks in the Office of Royal Decrees (예문관; 藝文館) were responsible for maintaining daily records of official court activities. These historians accompanied the king at all times, and Joseon kings did not conduct official business without a historian present. The daily historical records produced by the eight historians were called sacho (사초; 史草; lit. raw historical material), which served as the basis for the compilation.
After the death of a king, the veritable records, or sillok, of the deceased monarch's reign were compiled by a special committee known as the Sillokcheong, or the Office of Annals Compilation. This committee included high-ranking officials and the most competent scholars. The compilation relied on various primary sources, including the sacho, historians' private memoranda, administrative records (시정기; 時政記), and the Seungjeongwon ilgi.
The compilation process consisted roughly of three phases. First, the primary sources were gathered, and the historians produced the first draft (초초; 初草; lit. initial draft). This draft was then refined into a second draft (중초; 中草; lit. middle draft), which was reviewed and finalized by high-ranking officials into a final draft (정초; 正草; lit. official draft). Once finalized, the drafts, sacho, and the historians' private memoranda were pulped in water and expunged (세초; 洗草; lit. wash drafts) to prevent leaks.
Great care was taken to ensure the integrity of the records; historians were guaranteed legal protection and editorial independence, especially from the king. Only the historians were allowed to read the sacho; if any historian disclosed or altered its contents, they were subject to severe punishment. Pulping and expunging the drafts and certain primary sources likely to contain historian commentary was a safety measure designed to insulate the historians from political influences and preserve the integrity of the records.
An oft-cited story in the sillok about King Taejong falling off his horse has been used to illustrate the commitment of Joseon court historians to documenting even events displeasing or embarrassing to the king and the extent to which the king could not influence which stories were included in the sillok.
The historian present defied King Taejong's order and ensured that not only the king’s fall but also his wish to keep it off the record were documented.
The records are written in Classical Chinese. The records of the first three kings of the Joseon dynasty—Taejo (r. 1392–1398), Jeongjong (r. 1399–1400), and Taejong (r. 1401–1418)—were handwritten. The records of Sejong (r. 1418–1450) and later kings were printed using movable type, some wooden and others metal. Korea is the first nation in East Asia to have printed its royal records using movable type.
Beginning in 1445, they began creating three additional copies of the records, which they distributed at various locations around Korea for safekeeping: the Ch'unch'ugwan office in Seoul, Chungju County, Jeonju County, and Seongju County. Despite this precaution, during the 1592–1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, all repositories were destroyed, except for the one in Jeonju. The Jeonju records narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire and were only saved by the private initiative of several scholars. After the war, the government began maintaining five repositories at Ch'unch'ugwan, Mount Myohyang, Taebaeksan, Odaesan, and Manisan.
The 1624 Yi Gwal's Rebellion resulted in the destruction of the Ch'unch'ugwan repository. It was not replaced; they ultimately returned to printing four copies of the records and storing them at the other repositories. The Mount Myohyang copy was moved to Jeoksangsan in 1633. Part of the Manisan collection was lost during the 1636 Qing invasion of Joseon, and the surviving volumes moved to Jeongjok-san on Ganghwa Island in 1678.
During the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period, the records went under the control of the Japanese colonial government. The Jeongjoksan and Taebaeksan repositories were transferred to the holdings of Keijō Imperial University in Seoul. The Odae-san copies were taken to Tokyo Imperial University in Japan. There, they were mostly destroyed during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. The remaining 46 volumes in Japan were not returned to Korea until 2006.
The annals of the last two Joseon rulers, Veritable Records of Gojong [ko] and Veritable Records of Sunjong [ko], are controversial and considered by modern South Korean historians to lack the impartiality of the other sources. This is because Japanese officials interfered in their creation and curation. They are thus considered relatively separate from the other records, and are not included in the National Treasures of South Korea or UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
Around the liberation of Korea, the Jeoksangsan copies were partially looted during the instability; there are reportedly uncertain rumors that some of these copies were actually taken during the 1950–1953 Korean War to North Korea. The Jeongjoksan and Taebaeksan records were still held in the collection Kyujanggak, at Seoul National University (the successor to Keijō Imperial University). In the 1980s, the Taebaeksan copies were moved to the National Archives of Korea, Busan Center.