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sok

sources

Tables of Dry Measure. — In estimating a standing crop of grain, in order to ascertain its value, the Koreans use as a unit the put, or tuft, of stalks. The table is as follows:—
Six puts “tufts” make one on-k'om.
Six on-k'oms “handfuls” make one mut.
Ten muts “bundles” make one chim.
One hundred chims “man loads” make one kyöl.

The kyöl is equivalent to our stack. Taxation is at the rate of thirty pieces of cash, or six cents, for each chim of the estimated crop.

In measuring grain in the kernel, the following is the table used —the sa or unit being one pinch of rice.
Ten sa “pinches” make on[e] hop.
Ten hop “handfuls” make one toi.
Ten toi “measures” make one mal.
Ten mal “pecks” make one söm.

The söm is what is known as a “bag.” Some confusion exists as to the amount covered by these denominations, for the size of the toi varies in different sections of the country. But the above is the legal standard. And attached to every prefecture there is an inspector of weights and measures, whose duty is to see that the standard is adhered to.

The Korean Repository, volume IV, January-December 1897. Page 332.

sŏk 石 (söm) A traditional measure of rice; a bag of rice a little more than 5 bushels.

Peter H. Lee, editor, with Donald Baker, Yongho Ch'oe, Hugh H. W. Kang and Han-Kyo Kim.
Sourcebook of Korean Civilization. Volume II. From the Seventeenth Century to the Modern Period.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.