The term was intended to identify and characterize a diplomatic policy which establishes and maintains amicable relations with neighboring states.
It was construed and understood in tandem with a corollary term, which was the sadae or "serving the great" policy towards Imperial China.
[1] Confucian learning contributed in the formation of gyorin and sadae as ritual, conceptual and normative frameworks for construing interactions and political decision-making.
[5] The long-term, strategic gyorin policy played out in bilateral diplomacy and trade dealings with the Jurchen tribes, Japan, the Ryūkyū Kingdom, Siam, and others.
[6] Over time, diplomatic and trade policies were perceived by Joseon's partners as the traditional door through which trends in neo-Confucian philosophical principles were recognized.