동아시아 문명권에서 ‘주권’과 ‘국제’ 개념의 탄생 - 『만국공법』의 판본 비교와 번역

The birth of the concepts of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘international’ in the East Asian cultural sphere:In our daily life in the sovereign nation, we are faced with international and global phenomena. These expressions, ‘sovereign state’ and ‘international relations’ are so much familiar to us; however, they became used in the East Asian Hanja (Chinese character) culture not too long ago. ‘When’ were these terms introduced into the East Asian Hanja culture, and ‘what process’ did they undergo to get established? What does it politically entail that the phenomena, which are called by these terms, become universal? This paper addresses these questions. For the purpose of the discussion, this paper initially examines the account and significance of such concepts as ‘sovereignty’ and ‘international’ that emerged in Europe. Then it looked into how such new notions were translated, disseminated, and accepted into the Hanja culture in the 19th century, when the ‘West moves to dominate the East.’ It was the books of Mangukgongbeop, which correspond to the international law of today that played a matrical role to the birth of new political concepts in the great transformation of the 19th century. In this light, the paper investigated the various editions of Mangukgongbeop of those days. Based on this research, the analysis of historical context and meaning is presented with regard to the fact that a ‘sovereign nation’ has appeared in the East Asian culture as a new concept for country, and the relationship ‘among’ countries has changed into the ‘international’ relationship which connotes independent and mutually parallel relations.