Call me quixotic, but I have founded, formally, the genealogical association of the future for Korea. It is actually the genealogical association of old Korea, that I am trying to revive for a framework of family history research in the future.
Korea has perhaps the greatest concentration of genealogical data of any country on earth — the jokbo, but its structure is tied to a patrilineal family orientation that limits its usefulness for the 21st century. What I mean is the jokbo is organized on male lines, so much so that once you start into the charts, it doesn’t even include the surname of the people listed. It tells you on the cover and at the outset what the surname is, but it’s never mentioned again. Well, it’s on the border of each page, usually, but not in the text itself. It’s not necessary. Everyone knows this is the Kim family from Gimhae, this is the Lee family from Jeonju, etc.
Women are not excluded from the document — contrary to what some people will tell you. Women are listed as wives who marry into the male line, and daughters who marry out, into other male lines. The average jokbo contains a wealth of information about both the main line of males and the side lines of females.
However, this format of genealogy has not always been the record of choice in Korea.........