The history of diseases in Korea, especially the diseases of the early historic period, constitutes a still largely unexplored area, save for the efforts of a few pioneering scholars whose findings are not yet available in English translations (Miki 1962; Kim 1966). However, this field should be of considerable interest to students of Asian history as well as those concerned with the history of medicine.

Geography, History, and Background

Much of Korea’s epidemiological past has been shaped by its geography. The country occupies a peninsula south of Manchuria that is separated from the Chinese mainland to the west by the Yellow Sea, and from nearby Japan to the east by the Korean and the Tsushima Straits. Forming a land bridge between northern Asia and the islands of Japan, Korea has time and again been subjected to invasions by armies from the Asian mainland intending to attack Japan, or by Japanese armies establishing a base from which to attack the Asian mainland. Undoubtedly, these contacts must have brought infectious diseases to Korea.

To discuss diseases of antiquity in Korea means to discuss those illnesses that occurred during the Old Choson Period (traditionally dated 2333 B.C. to A.D. 562), and the Three Kingdoms Era encompassing the Kingdoms of Koguryo (37 B.C. to A.D. 688), Paekche (18 B.C. to A.D. 660), and Silla (57 B.C. to A.D. 935), as well as the Koryo Era (918–1392). By the ninth century B.C., rice-cultivating Bronze Age cultures had been established on the Korean peninsula. During the Three Kingdoms Era, the Chinese writing system was adopted by the courts in order to ensure the writing down of state chronicles.