Death Penalty Story of the Joseon Dynasty

 *Cruelty*

The executioner of the Joseon Dynasty was called Hoesjasu or Mangnani.

They demanded bribes from death row inmates or his family members,

and refusing to do so was very cruel.

There is a record of a death row prisoner named Yoon Joon.

The executors demanded a bribe from his wife when he was taken to be executed.

However, Yoon said that even if he bribed his wife, he would die anyway.

In the end, Yoon Jun was said to have been executed very cruelly.

British Savage Landor traveled to Joseon in the 1890s.

His book, The Land of the Morning Calm, Joseon, contains the following contents.

"The prisoners arrived at the execution site on a cart.

Soon they were laid on the floor and the executioner kept hitting their necks

until they were decapitated with a very blunt knife."
Given that they were struck with a very blunt knife, it seems clear 

that they did not bribe the executioner.

The general public was very afraid of the executioners.

Therefore, they could do nothing but execute. Therefore, they were always short of money.

They frequently showed up at the market, tormenting people and stealing things.

In order to solve this problem, the Joseon government gave them land and grain to help them live

without any problems. And it worked.

Meanwhile, most people were reluctant to execute the death penalty.
So there was a shortage of executors. In order to solve the problem, 

the Joseon government made a law to indemnify a condemned criminal 

if he or she executes the death penalty of another executed prisoner. 

Nevertheless, there was a lack of prisoners who wanted to execute the death penalty.

Therefore, the slaughtering workers replaced the execution.

Therefore, the image of the butcher was very bad during the Joseon Dynasty.

That's not all the reason, but that's why if you watch movies or dramas,

you can always see the bad treatment of butchers.