The description methods used in obituaries (jalgi) during the Goryeo era generally consisted of a mention of government office and peerage followed by praise or censure of tbe deceased. However. while 30% of obituaries consisted of simple descriptions of the office and peerage of the deceased 20% involved lengthy obituaries that included the office and peerage. praise and censure. family pedigree, background, related episodes, and follow up measures. The individuals found in the obituaries (jolgi) were mainly high ranking ministers. 85% of the obituaries involved officials of 2 pum or higher. Over 50% were officials from the Jungseo Munhaseong (Chancellery for State Affairs). By the time late Goryeo rolled around, the number of cases that included descriptions of the status of the deceased based on investitures rather than official titles had increased.
93% of obituaries appeared in both the 〈Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Goryeo)〉 and 〈Goryeosa Jeolyo (高麗史節要, Essentials of Goryeo History)〉. Moreover, there were only a few cases in which, although an obituary was prepared, such information was not also reproduced in the sega (世家, noble family history) of the deceased. The majority of the sega included only the offices and peerage of the deceased. However, the obituaries found in the 〈Goryeosa Jeolyo (高麗史節要, Essentials of Goryeo History)〉 included biographical information and episodes pertaining to the person, such as the family pedigree and background, and therefore exhibited a wider range of information about the deceased than the sega. This can be attributed to the fact that the role played by biographies (yeoljeon) in the 〈Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Goryeo)〉 was in many ways replicated by the obituaries (jolgi) in the 〈Goryeosa Jeolyo (高麗史節要, Essentials of Goryeo History)〉.
A look at the compilation process of the 〈Goryeo Guksa (高麗國史, History of the Garyeo State)〉 leads to the conclusion that the obituaries (joigi) found in the 〈Goryeosa Jeolyo (高麗史節要, Essentials of Garyeo History)〉 were more in keeping with the original form of the 〈Goryeo Sillok (高麗實錄, Annals of Garyeo Dynasty)〉 than the biographies (yeoljeon) fOood in the 〈Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Garyeo)〉. While access to various materials from not only the 〈Goryeo Sillok (高麗實錄, Annals of Garyeo Dynasty)〉 but also the epitaphs and works of the deceased ensured a quantitative increase in biographies (yeoljeon), there remained some leeway to include contradictory contents from the original records or to embellish the original contents. Furthermore, the omission of the biographies of Confucian scholarship (yurimjeon) from the biographies (yeoljeon) found in the 〈Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Garyeo)〉 can be explained by the fact that the obituaries (jolgi) found in the (Goryeo Sillok (高麗實錄, Annals of Goryeo Dynasty)〉 mostly involved high ranking officials. To this end, it was difficult to include Confucian scholars, which maintained a certain dislance from the government bureaucracy, in the biographies (yeolieon) found in the (Goryeosa (高麗史, History of Goryeo)〉.