The 23 Bu and the 13 Provinces

In the second Gabo Reform the eight provinces were abolished and the country divided into 23 bu; after the king’s flight to the Russian legation they were reorganized into 13 provinces, the basis of today’s provinces.

In 1895 the government abolished the eight provinces, divided the country into 23 bu and turned all the old bu, mok, gun and hyeon counties into gun. Each bu had a governor (gwanchalsa) and each gun a magistrate (gunsu), and the powers of local officials were to be curbed (the Fourteen-Article Hongbeom). The 23 bu, which redrew the old provincial borders, caused much confusion, and in August 1896, after the flight to the Russian legation, the government returned to the eight provinces as a base and split Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, Pyeongan and Hamgyeong into north and south, making 13 provinces.