Goryeo Relief Policies and Institutions

Also called: Uichang, Sangpyeongchang, Hyeminguk

Goryeo lent grain and steadied grain prices through the Uichang and Sangpyeongchang, and aided the poor and sick through the Jewibo, the East and West Daebiwon and the Hyeminguk.

To keep farmers secure as the foundation of the state, Goryeo created several relief institutions. Seongjong expanded Taejo’s Heukchang into the Uichang (relief granaries) in 986, lending grain in spring and collecting it in autumn. In 993 he set up Sangpyeongchang (ever-normal granaries) in Gaegyeong, Seogyeong and the twelve mok, buying grain in good years and selling it in bad ones to steady prices. Taxes were reduced according to the damage when disasters struck (jaemyeon law).

In 963 Gwangjong founded the Jewibo, a fund whose interest on loans supported the poor and sick. The East and West Daebiwon in Gaegyeong treated patients and took in the hungry and destitute, and the Hyeminguk, founded by Yejong in 1112, gave out medicine. In epidemics or severe famines temporary agencies such as the Guje Dogam and Gugeup Dogam were set up.

These institutions passed to Joseon: the Daebiwon became the Hwarinseo and the Hyeminguk the Hyeminseo. In late Goryeo, however, exploitation by the powerful often left the granaries unable to function.