In Korea, something similar for people with visual impairments existed during the Joseon Dynasty. However, there does not seem to have been a specific special job set aside for people with non-visual impairments (정창권, pp. 19-21). 18th century scholar Hong Daeyong for example wrote that “As the blind turn to fortunetelling, the castrated to gate keeping, so too should even the mute, the deaf, and the people who cannot walk all have jobs.” (정창권, p. 19). So, in answer to your question of another case of ‘physical disability being tied legally or traditionally to a particular profession’, this implies that eunuchs – if you consider that disability - were traditionally tied to ‘door keeping’ (keeping the ladies in mostly), but that for other physical disabilities such a link was not immediately apparent to Hong and presumably his contemporaries.

Most other impairments, after all, do not make farming – the nr. 1 job of all times – impossible. Also, other impairments, do not make it impossible to pass the written civil service exam.

Blindness is thus a special case. In South Korea, people with full visual impairments have historically enjoyed a legal monopoly on the massage business and were traditionally also present in the acupuncture business and other semi-medical professions that do not require good eyesight. After the Japanese turned Korea into a colony in 1910, they introduced a medical license system in 1914 (Order nr. 1 of the No. 10 of the Governor-General of Korea; 조선총독부 경령10호) which only allowed people “who cannot see ahead” to receive a massage license. The American administration abolished this monopoly in 1946 but it was reintroduced in after protests by people with visual impairments in 1960.

Although the law has changed frequently (moving rules from administrative regulation to parliamentary legislation as part of the democratization process), currently article 82 of the Medical Service Act rules that

(1) A massage therapist shall be a visually-impaired person under the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities, who falls under any of the following subparagraphs and who is accredited by a relevant Mayor/Do Govern

This legal monopoly has been contested before the Korean Constitutional Court on a couple of occasions because it interferes with the freedom of the ‘visually-unimpaired’ to choose their own profession. The Korean Constitutional Court only came into being in 1988, but it has judged on the issue multiple times, in 2002 (2002헌가16) twice in 2006 (2003헌마715; 2006헌마368), 2008 (2006헌마1098), 2010 (2008헌가19), 2013 (2011헌가39) and 2017 (2017헌가15) (I probably forget some), in a contradictory manner.

For example, in the first 2006 judgement (2003헌마715) the court ruled that demanding that a massagist be blind was unconstitutional, but in the second 2008 judgement (2006헌마368) the court reversed course again: “In the face of insufficiency of welfare policies for the blind, the blind lack alternatives guarantee their livelihood” if people without visual impairments are allowed to compete with them, while the fact that “the visually impaired are a minority who have historically been discriminated against” required that some positive discrimination is justified.

How were these laws enforced or managed? Massaging without a license, i.e. with eye-sight, was fined and could lead to imprisonment, although especially before the 80s government enforcement seems not to have been that thorough. Legal monopolies such as this were given in circumstances where other welfare policies were not sufficient and seem to be becoming less common because positive discrimination becomes harder to justify when disability welfare develops.

Sources (most require Korean):

- 정창권, 근대 장애인사, 서울출판사 2014.

- Ji Bong Lim. (2006). Case Review : Protection of Minority`s Rights and Constitutional Adjudication: Focusing on Massagist System Case [Korean]. Democratic Legal Studies, 31(0), 313-343.

- Yeon Hee Jun, Mi Hye Park. (2010). A Study on the Issue and Future Task of Masseurs Licensing System Dispute in Korea [Korean]. Dispute resolution studies review, 8(2), 61-83.

- Joo Yunjeong. (2017). Comparative Research on the Rights to Survive in East Asia: Studies of the Right to Massage in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. 사회와 역사(구 한국사회사학회논문집), 115(0), 345-377.