Korean Area Studies Practice Test

At the heart of late Joseon uprisings is the basic link between hardship and anger at those in power. Recurrent famines and natural disasters collapsed harvests, while heavy taxes and corvée obligations pressed peasants into debt and poverty. Widespread corruption among local officials and officials’ failure to provide relief intensified grievances, making resistance feel both justified and necessary. While religious reform movements like the Donghak movement did emerge and influence events, the driving force behind the uprisings was economic distress and corrupt governance, not a purely religious or externally started movement. Foreign influence did exist in the era, but the impulse for these revolts came from domestic conditions and the perception that the state could not protect or support the peasantry.