White clothing in Korea

White clothing in Korea
Korean negotiators in white hanbok during the United States expedition to Korea (1871)
Korean name
Hangul	민복
Hanja	民服
Revised Romanization	Minbok
McCune–Reischauer	Minbok

Until the 1950s, a significant proportion of Koreans wore white hanbok, sometimes called minbok (Korean: 민복; lit. clothing of the people), on a daily basis. Many Korean people, from infancy through old age and across the social spectrum, dressed in white. They only wore color on special occasions or if their job required a certain uniform.^[1] Early evidence of the practice dates from around the 2nd century BCE. It continued until the 1950–1953 Korean War, after which the resulting poverty caused the practice to end.

It is not known when, how, or why the practice came about; it is also uncertain when and how consistently it was practiced. It possibly arose due to the symbolism of the color white, which was associated with cleanliness and heaven. The Japanese colonial view controversially attributed the Korean penchant for white clothing to mourning. The practice was persistently maintained and defended; it survived at least 25 pre-colonial and over 100 Japanese colonial era regulations and prohibitions.

Westerners, who began visiting the peninsula in the 19th century, viewed the practice as a curiosity.^[1] Japanese colonialists and a number of Koreans saw it as a frivolous practice, partly because of the maintenance the practice demanded.

This practice has developed a number of symbolic interpretations. The rigorous defense of the practice and effort needed to maintain it have been seen as symbolic of Korean stubbornness. The Korean ethnonationalist terms paegŭiminjok (백의민족; 白衣民族; baeguiminjok) and paegŭidongpo (백의동포; 白衣同胞; baeguidongpo), both roughly meaning white-clothed people, were coined to promote a distinct Korean identity, primarily as a reaction to Japanese assimilationist policies.