Two severe famines (1809&ndash;1810, 1814&ndash;1814) in Korea during the last stage of the little ice age (1809&ndash;1819)

Kim, Sung Woo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7

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https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7

Preprints

26 Feb 2024

| 26 Feb 2024

Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal CP.

Two severe famines (1809–1810, 1814–1814) in Korea during the last stage of the little ice age (1809–1819)

Sung Woo Kim

Abstract. From the eruption of an unknown volcano in 1809 until that of Tambora in April 1815, large and small volcanoes erupted in succession, causing various climatic changes around the Earth. During this period, the monsoon climate zone of East Asia, including Korea, had a very dry summer, and the rice yield was very poor, which resulted in two severe famines that lasted until early summer in the following years. During the famines in 1809–1810 and 1814–1815, about 24 percent of the population of Korea (approx. 14 million people) died. The severity of the drought varied widely depending on the region in Korea. Famine was more severe in the southern region, due to the higher degree of drought than in the northern region that suffered less of a drought and reported a fewer number of deaths. Based on the works of a Korean bureaucrat-scholar, Chŏng Yak-yong, this article shed lights on the famines in Chŏlla-do Province, caused by the droughts in the last stages of the “little ice age” (1809–1819).

Received: 01 Feb 2024 – Discussion started: 26 Feb 2024

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Sung Woo Kim

Status: final response (author comments only)

RC1:
'Comment on cp-2024-7', Anonymous Referee #1, 18 Apr 2024
This article examines the extent and causes of the two famines of 1809-1810 and 1814-1815, particularly using the documentary data of a bureaucrat-scholar, Chong Yak-yong. Based on different sources, the author could date years with a low harvest, the number of starving people for different regions, and the number of deaths for different regions. According to “The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History” (White, 2018) and Burkdorf (2022), there is little historical documentary data on Korea. Therefore, historical records for Korea are very relevant. Nevertheless, unfortunately, I have a few main points that I think need to be considered:

1) I also read the article "Successive volcanic eruptions (1809-1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809-1810, 1814-1815) seen through historical records" by Sungwoo Kim, which has a lot of parallels thematically and thus one compact paper would have been more helpful. Especially since Chong Yak-yong's documentary data was also cited on page 11, I would be interested to know why it was decided to produce two papers. In any case, the introduction should clearly state what added value the paper has to the article mentioned.

2) The introductory chapter: I miss a well-founded discussion of what literature already exists and has already been dealt with. At least two papers are mentioned in the Palgrave Handbook. This would show that there are only a few articles in this direction and emphasize the value of the data.

3) (Missing) Data section: New sources are gradually introduced as you read the article. I, at least, had difficulty differentiating which information was taken from Chong's papers and which was not, or which was new or from other articles (clearer citations would be helpful...). I would suggest introducing the data extensively (not just in a few lines 47-56). I.e., introducing the author, showing an example graph, data density, whether quantitative or qualitative data, etc. The other used data should also be mentioned, as some graphs and tables are not based on Chong's data.

Based on points 1-3, I would suggest a restructuring that places Chong's documentary data at the center because they add value to the description of the famines of 1709-1710 and 1714-1715, which may be seen and stated explicitly as a follow-up paper to Kim's paper (2023). In any case, the article needs a more comprehensive introduction to the data sets. If there is only a small amount of metadata, it should be explicitly mentioned. However, I think the data is definitely worth being published, but in a way explained above.

Since I think the manuscript needs to be rewritten significantly, I will add only a few minor points:
Line 1: The LIA's start and end dates may never be fixed to a particular year, at least not globally. Thus, the phrase in the header, “the last stage of the Little Ice Age (1809-1819),” should be justified by citing appropriate literature. See Wanner et al. (2022). Also a typer: It should be "1814-1815".

Line 10 and others: As the paper wants to show a link between volcanic eruptions and famines, I would like more information on that. I.e., is this link only statistically and historically observed or physically explained in earlier studies?

Line 137: A Scatterplot of Fig. 2 and 3 might be interesting. I.e., between precipitation and tax-exempted rice paddies,” as long as precipitation between Seoul and Cholla-do has a high correlation.

Line 234 and others: “Let us then estimate how many people died” seems too informal.

Literature
Burgdorf, A.-M.: A global inventory of quantitative documentary evidence related to climate since the 15th century, Clim. Past, 18, 1407–1428, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1407-2022, 2022.
Kim, S. Successive volcanic eruptions (1809–1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809–1810, 1814–1815) seen through historical records. Climatic Change 176, 1 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03480-w
Wanner, H., C. Pfister, and R. Neukom: „The variable European Little Ice Age“. In: Quaternary Science Reviews 287, p. 107531. DOI: https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.quascirev.2022.107531, 2022
White, S., Pfister, C., and Mauelshagen, F.: The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History, Basingstoke, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1- 137-43020-5, 2018.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7-RC1
- AC1:
  'Reply on RC1', Sung woo Kim, 28 Apr 2024
  Thank you very much for your kind comments. I rewrote my manuscript, esp. Abstract and Introduction according to you comments. My editing contents are as follows:
  1) I also read the article "Successive volcanic eruptions (1809-1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809-1810, 1814-1815) seen through historical records" by Sungwoo Kim, which has a lot of parallels thematically and thus one compact paper would have been more helpful. Especially since Chong Yak-yong's documentary data was also cited on page 11, I would be interested to know why it was decided to produce two papers. In any case, the introduction should clearly state what added value the paper has to the article mentioned.
  A) The introduction was rewritten to add new citations and historical references such as the records by Chŏng Yak-yong and other government documents of Chosŏn dynasty on the famine in the southern regions of Korea including Chŏlla-do province.
  
  2) The introductory chapter: I miss a well-founded discussion of what literature already exists and has already been dealt with. At least two papers are mentioned in the Palgrave Handbook. This would show that there are only a few articles in this direction and emphasize the value of the data.
  A) As regards the scarce literature on past climate in Korea, as White (2018) and Burkdorf (2022) noted, the author presented the documentary evidences produced by the bureaucrats and intellectuals of Chosŏn dynasty about climate change, disasters and the human efforts to overcome the crisis. In the introduction, the author cited the official documentary evidence of Chosŏn dynasty such as Ch’ugugi (測雨器, rain gauge) records, Annual Crop Reports (災實分等狀啟) and Relief Status Reports (畢賑狀啓), in addition to many officials records about climate and disasters in the Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi [Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat] and the Chosŏn wangjo sillok [Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty].
  
  3) (Missing) Data section: New sources are gradually introduced as you read the article. I, at least, had difficulty differentiating which information was taken from Chong's papers and which was not, or which was new or from other articles (clearer citations would be helpful...). I would suggest introducing the data extensively (not just in a few lines 47-56). I.e., introducing the author, showing an example graph, data density, whether quantitative or qualitative data, etc. The other used data should also be mentioned, as some graphs and tables are not based on Chong's data.
  A) The author clearly specified the data from Chŏng’s papers in the main text. Upon the suggestion of the reviewer, the author also made it clear that the information in the introduction and Chapter 1 was based on the writings of Chŏng about the famine in Kangjin, Chŏlla-do province, and those in Chapter 2-4 were in accordance with the government records of the disasters across the nation, including Chŏlla-do and Kyŏngsang-do provinces.
  
  Based on points 1-3, I would suggest a restructuring that places Chong's documentary data at the center because they add value to the description of the famines of 1809-1810 and 1814-1815, which may be seen and stated explicitly as a follow-up paper to Kim's paper (2023). In any case, the article needs a more comprehensive introduction to the data sets. If there is only a small amount of metadata, it should be explicitly mentioned. However, I think the data is definitely worth being published, but in a way explained above.
  A) Upon the suggestion of the reviewer, the author extensively cited Chŏng’s documentary data in Chapter 1, as well as rewriting the introduction to elucidate how the bureaucrats and intellectuals of Chosŏn dynasty produced the documentary data sets on climate and disasters.
  
  Since I think the manuscript needs to be rewritten significantly, I will add only a few minor points:
  Line 1: The LIA's start and end dates may never be fixed to a particular year, at least not globally. Thus, the phrase in the header, “the last stage of the Little Ice Age (1809-1819),” should be justified by citing appropriate literature. See Wanner et al. (2022). Also a typer: It should be "1814-1815".
  A) The years were removed from the header in consideration of the lack of global consensus on the LIA years. The typographical error was also corrected. As regards the LIA years, the author cited Wanner et al. (2022) in the conclusion of this
  
  Line 10 and others: As the paper wants to show a link between volcanic eruptions and famines, I would like more information on that. I.e., is this link only statistically and historically observed or physically explained in earlier studies?
  A) The correlation of volcanic eruptions and famines was explained in the author’s earlier paper, “Successive volcanic eruptions (1809-1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809-1810, 1814-1815).”
  
  Line 234 and others: “Let us then estimate how many people died” seems too informal.
  A) “Let us then estimate how many people died” was deleted, because there is no difference without it.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on cp-2024-7', Anonymous Referee #2, 03 Jan 2025

Major comments:
This article presents really interesting new empirical results but has an inadequate, and at times unclear, English. It is almost also entirely lacking references to the standard literature in the field and to earlier research of relevance (even if few publications concern Korea, relevant literature exists for China and Japan). Professional English language editing and proof-reading is required before this article can be published. The empirical findings, based on the historical source material, are very interesting as few studies of climate-induced famines exist for Korea.

Minor comments:
Title and other places. Little Ice Age should be written with capital letters (not little ice age).
Abstract, second sentence: Unclear what year is meant.
Lines 37–38: The presentation of years appear somewhat confused here.
Lines 95–96: In this temperature drop for Korea specifically? What season? It appears to be an underestimation too.
Lines 125ff: Could the lack of seed grain also play a role for the famine (after the first harvest failure)?
Line 266: Epidemics and famines interact so it is hard to separate the causes of death, see Ljungqvist et al. (2024).
Line 288: What is “Earlier” referring to here?
Line 324: What is “a well field system”?
Lines 334–335: The Finnish famine of 1867–1868 was also very severe.

Examples of works to consider and cite regarding climate–society/famine relationships:
Collet, D. and Schuh, M., eds.: Famines During the ‘Little Ice Age’ (1300–1800): Socio-natural Entanglements in Premodern Societies, Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54337-6, 2018.
Degroot, D., Anchukaitis, K., Bauch, M., Burnham, J., Carnegy, F., Cui, J., de Luna, K., Guzowski, P., Hambrecht, G., Huhtamaa, H., Izdebski, A., Kleemann, K., Moesswilde, E., Neupane, N., Newfield, T., Pei, Q., Xoplaki, E., and Zappia, N.: Towards a rigorous understanding of societal responses to climate change, Nature, 591, 539–550, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03190-2, 2021.
Diaz, H. F., Kovats, R. S., McMichael, A. J., and Nicholls, N.: Climate and human health linkages on multiple timescales, in: History and Climate: Memories of the Future?, edited by Jones, P. D., Ogilvie, A. E. J., Davies, T. D., and Briffa, K. R., pp. 267–289, Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3365-5_13, 2001.
Galloway, P. R.: Long-term fluctuations in climate and population in the preindustrial era, Popul. Dev. Rev., 12, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.2307/1973349, 1986.
Ljungqvist, F. C., Seim, A., and Huhtamaa, H.: Climate and society in European history, Wiley Interdisciplin. Rev.: Clim. Change, 12, e691, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.691, 2021.
Ljungqvist, F. C., Seim, A., and Collet, D.: Famines in medieval and early modern Europe – connecting climate and society, Wiley Interdisciplin. Rev.: Clim. Change, 15, e859, https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1002/wcc.859, 2024.
Pfister, C. and Wanner, H.: Climate and Society in Europe: The Last Thousand Years, Bern: Haupt Verlag, 2021.
Robbins Schug, G., Buikstra, J. E., DeWitte, S. N., Baker, B. J., Berger, E., Buzon, M. R., Davies-Barrett, A. M., Goldstein, L., Grauer, A. L., Gregoricka, L. A., Halcrow, S. E., Knudson, K. J., Larsen, C. S., Martin, D. L., Nystrom, K. C., Perry, M. A., Roberts, C. A., Santos, A. L., Stojanowski, C. M., Suby, J. A., Temple, D. H., Tung, T. A., Vlok, M., Watson-Glen, T., and Zakrzewski, S. R.: Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 120, e2209472 120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209472120, 2023.
Slavin, P.: Climate and famines: A historical reassessment, Wiley Interdisciplin. Rev.: Clim. Change, 7, 433–447, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.395, 2016.
Wanner, H., Pfister, C., and Neukom, R.: The variable European Little Ice Age, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 287, 107 531, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107531, 2022.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7-RC2
- AC1:
  'Reply on RC1', Sung woo Kim, 28 Apr 2024
  Thank you very much for your kind comments. I rewrote my manuscript, esp. Abstract and Introduction according to you comments. My editing contents are as follows:
  1) I also read the article "Successive volcanic eruptions (1809-1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809-1810, 1814-1815) seen through historical records" by Sungwoo Kim, which has a lot of parallels thematically and thus one compact paper would have been more helpful. Especially since Chong Yak-yong's documentary data was also cited on page 11, I would be interested to know why it was decided to produce two papers. In any case, the introduction should clearly state what added value the paper has to the article mentioned.
  A) The introduction was rewritten to add new citations and historical references such as the records by Chŏng Yak-yong and other government documents of Chosŏn dynasty on the famine in the southern regions of Korea including Chŏlla-do province.
  
  2) The introductory chapter: I miss a well-founded discussion of what literature already exists and has already been dealt with. At least two papers are mentioned in the Palgrave Handbook. This would show that there are only a few articles in this direction and emphasize the value of the data.
  A) As regards the scarce literature on past climate in Korea, as White (2018) and Burkdorf (2022) noted, the author presented the documentary evidences produced by the bureaucrats and intellectuals of Chosŏn dynasty about climate change, disasters and the human efforts to overcome the crisis. In the introduction, the author cited the official documentary evidence of Chosŏn dynasty such as Ch’ugugi (測雨器, rain gauge) records, Annual Crop Reports (災實分等狀啟) and Relief Status Reports (畢賑狀啓), in addition to many officials records about climate and disasters in the Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi [Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat] and the Chosŏn wangjo sillok [Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty].
  
  3) (Missing) Data section: New sources are gradually introduced as you read the article. I, at least, had difficulty differentiating which information was taken from Chong's papers and which was not, or which was new or from other articles (clearer citations would be helpful...). I would suggest introducing the data extensively (not just in a few lines 47-56). I.e., introducing the author, showing an example graph, data density, whether quantitative or qualitative data, etc. The other used data should also be mentioned, as some graphs and tables are not based on Chong's data.
  A) The author clearly specified the data from Chŏng’s papers in the main text. Upon the suggestion of the reviewer, the author also made it clear that the information in the introduction and Chapter 1 was based on the writings of Chŏng about the famine in Kangjin, Chŏlla-do province, and those in Chapter 2-4 were in accordance with the government records of the disasters across the nation, including Chŏlla-do and Kyŏngsang-do provinces.
  
  Based on points 1-3, I would suggest a restructuring that places Chong's documentary data at the center because they add value to the description of the famines of 1809-1810 and 1814-1815, which may be seen and stated explicitly as a follow-up paper to Kim's paper (2023). In any case, the article needs a more comprehensive introduction to the data sets. If there is only a small amount of metadata, it should be explicitly mentioned. However, I think the data is definitely worth being published, but in a way explained above.
  A) Upon the suggestion of the reviewer, the author extensively cited Chŏng’s documentary data in Chapter 1, as well as rewriting the introduction to elucidate how the bureaucrats and intellectuals of Chosŏn dynasty produced the documentary data sets on climate and disasters.
  
  Since I think the manuscript needs to be rewritten significantly, I will add only a few minor points:
  Line 1: The LIA's start and end dates may never be fixed to a particular year, at least not globally. Thus, the phrase in the header, “the last stage of the Little Ice Age (1809-1819),” should be justified by citing appropriate literature. See Wanner et al. (2022). Also a typer: It should be "1814-1815".
  A) The years were removed from the header in consideration of the lack of global consensus on the LIA years. The typographical error was also corrected. As regards the LIA years, the author cited Wanner et al. (2022) in the conclusion of this
  
  Line 10 and others: As the paper wants to show a link between volcanic eruptions and famines, I would like more information on that. I.e., is this link only statistically and historically observed or physically explained in earlier studies?
  A) The correlation of volcanic eruptions and famines was explained in the author’s earlier paper, “Successive volcanic eruptions (1809-1815) and two severe famines of Korea (1809-1810, 1814-1815).”
  
  Line 234 and others: “Let us then estimate how many people died” seems too informal.
  A) “Let us then estimate how many people died” was deleted, because there is no difference without it.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7-AC1
- AC2:
  'Reply on RC2', Sung woo Kim, 17 Jan 2025
  Reply to Referee #2 (2025.1)
  Major comments:
  As regards 1) the comment that this article needs professional English language editing and proof-reading
  Answer: A native English speaker who has served as copyreader edited this article.
  2) the comment that this article entirely lack references to the standard literature in the field and to earlier research of relevance.
  Answer: As references, I cited such articles about climate change as Galloway (1986), Ljungqvist et al. (2021), Ljungqvist et al. (2004), Slavin (2016), Wanner et al. (2022) and others.
  
  As to other comments
  1) LIA
  Answer: All of LIA are written in uppercase.
  2) Line 266: Epidemics and famines interact so it is hard to separate the causes of death, see Ljungqvist et al. (2024).
  Answer: I added to this article the finding of Ljungqvist et al. (2021), Ljungqvist et al. (2004), Slavin (2016)
  Line 324: What is “a well field system”?
  
  Answer: I gave more detailed explanation about the well field system and the reason why Chong Yak-yong strongly called for the reform measure.
  Lines 334–335: The Finnish famine of 1867–1868 was also very severe.
  
  Answer: I cited the example of the Finnish famine of 1867-68 in addition to the Great Irish Famine.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-7-AC2

Sung Woo Kim

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Short summary

From the eruption of an unknown volcano in 1809 until that of Tambora in April 1815, large and small volcanoes erupted in succession, causing various climatic changes around the Earth. During this period, the monsoon climate zone of East Asia, including Korea, had a very dry summer, and the rice yield was very poor, which resulted in two severe famines that lasted until early summer in the following years.


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