www.soriano-ph.com

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 9 September 2007 Issue

In the five thousand years of Korean history, there is only one ruler conferred the title or distinction “Great” by the people of Korea, who until today is being remembered with gratitude and respect for his great wisdom.

He is King Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Choson Dynasty of Korean who ascended to the throne in August 1418 at the age of 21 and reigned for thirty two years until his death at a young age of fifty four.

Even though Sejong merely inherited his authority as a ruler of Korea, his entire regime was solely motivated by his firm desire to serve his country well without fear of even sacrificing himself for the sake of his people. His sole standard against which he measured his success as a ruler was the happiness of his people.

When Korea was struck with successive years of bad harvests because of continuous flooding and severe drought, he starved with his people and even issued an edict making provincial officials criminally responsible if even one person in their residential district dies of hunger.

At one point on the 5th year of his rule, King Sejong declared:  “The common people are the foundation of any country. It is only when this foundation is strong that a country may be stable and prosperous.”

King Sejong had also a great concern for the senior citizens of his country.  Those who worked for his monarchy were placed in cool areas in the palace grounds where they could work in comfort.  Over the objection of his Royal Secretariat, he was also the first king to invite the elderly of lowly origin to dine with him in person at the palace. He said: “I hold these banquets to honor the dignity of old age, not to measure rank and status.”

At a time when kings were generally cruel and brutal to their subjects, Sejong showed much concern over the rights of slave and prisoners. His forbade the detention of offenders below 15 or above 70. He would make sure that prisoners were kept in clean and maintained facilities. He pursued strict observance of due process even for slaves. He implemented policies that would give women giving birth, their maternity leave and their spouses, paternity leave.

As a King, Sejong was very frugal. He wrote his commands using used government papers. When not undertaking official business, he wore patched and threadbare clothing. He did not want local delicacies being sent to him as a tribute.

King Sejong did not regard his people as simple objects of care and governance. He believed that they should be equipped with a limitless potential to put them to a higher cultural and spiritual level. To achieve this, he put great efforts to develop a new alphabet, Hangul, and put up advance printing technology for the publication of books on various subjects and made knowledge accessible to the people. 

Even at a time when his health was seriously impaired, he fortified the defenses of his country by strengthening the army and improving its standard of weaponry. He also revolutionized sciences in the field of agriculture, medicine and astronomy simultaneously with arts and literature. And they say that because of this, his people’s standard of living rose substantially.

King Sejong’s political reign was characterized by a democratic forum founded on mutual respect and tolerance. He instituted the Kyong-yon, a formal weekly occasion for reading and debate between the king and his courtiers. Through this discussion, he was able to identify and resolve national issues and ensured that every voice was heard regardless of social position.

There were a lot of other things that Sejong did for his people that made his rule a golden age in Korean history.  He is the perfect example of the ‘benevolent dictator’ or the ‘enlightened despot’ which Greek philosopher, Plato, described in his “The Republic” to build upon an ideal society.

It is safe to say therefore that the greatness of a country would always depend on the extent of greatness of its ruler.  The Philippines never had a ‘golden age’ so to speak in its history and the reason is obvious.