Sukjong (Joseon)

Sukjong 19th King of the Joseon Dynasty
King Sukjong
Spelling of names
Hangeul	숙종
Hanja	肅宗
Revised Romanization	Sukjong
McCune-Reischauer	Sukchong
Reign
Reign of	August 1674
Reign until	July 12, 1720
predecessor	King Hyeonjong
successor	King Gyeongjong
Life dates
Born on the	October 7, 1661
place of birth	Gyeonghuigung Palace, Hanseong
Birth Name	이순
Hanja	李 焞
Revised Romanization	Yi Sun
McCune-Reischauer	Yi Sun
father	King Hyeonjong
mother	Queen Myeongseong
Death dates
Died on	July 12, 1720
Place of death	Gyeonghuigung Palace, Hanseong
tomb	Seooreung Tomb, Goyang City, Gyeonggi-do Province
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s)	Queen Ingyeong Queen Inhyeon Queen Inwon Hui of the Indong Jang clan and five other ladies of the court
Sons	Prince Hwiso (Yi Yun) Prince Seongsu Prince Yeongsu Prince Yeoning (Yi Geum) Prince Yeonryeong (Yi Hwon) and a son whose name is unknown
Daughters	three daughters whose name is unknown

Sukjong ( Korean : 숙종 ) (* October 7, 1661 in Joseon ; † July 12, 1720 ibid) was the 19th King of the Joseon Dynasty ( König 왕조 ) (1392-1910) in Korea during his reign from 1674 to 1720 .

Life

Sukjong, who was born under the name Sun ( 순 ), was the son of King Hyeonjong ( 현종 ). After he became king himself at the age of 13, he had no descendants for a long time and when he wanted to appoint his concubine's son as crown prince, there was fierce opposition at court.

A peculiarity of King Sukjong's style of government was that he often reshuffled his cabinet because, in his opinion, this could strengthen the loyalty of his subjects through competition. The result was that many of his scholars felt excluded from the political process. As a result, created almost 300 private academies, Seowon ( 서원 ) called, where many of the educated people that the Neo-Confucianism were pending, were training their offspring. In this way, the academies developed the mainstream in terms of Confucian education and science and were later respected by the court as Sallim ( 산림 ) (rural educated). In order to counteract the alienation of the rural scholars from the court and its government affairs, Sukjong provided them with various offices and assigned advisory roles.

From a military point of view, Sukjong consolidated its power with the creation of five new garrisons , called Ogunyeong ( 오군영 ). He had them built around the capital. Chongyungcheong ( 총융청 ) was laid out in the north, Sueocheong ( 수어청 ) in the south, Geumwiyeong ( 금위영 ) formed the capital garrison and Eoyeongcheong ( 어영청 ) performed its duties as the royal guard. All soldiers were trained and drilled on the basis of Chi-hsiao-hsin-shu (New Text of Practical Tactics) written by Chi Ji-guang . He created the work after the experience of China's warfare against the attacks of the Japanese.

The peasant farmers had to serve in the army and in rotation in the capital. While they could get exempted from serving in the army by paying for two bales of clothing, it was very difficult for most of them to raise that amount of material that many could not be exempted from serving in the army.

Despite the expansion of military strength, the Sukjong empire suffered from a lack of economic development. At the same time, the population grew rapidly. In 1657 the population numbered around 2.3 million subjects, in 1668 it was 5.0 million and in 1717 around 6.8 million had to be looked after in the country. Food ran out and in 1671 over 300,000 people died of famine. Fierce wars over direction at court ensued in 1680, 1689 and 1694 and led to the execution of some scholars.

King's tomb

King Sukjong was buried in the Seooreung ( 서오릉 ) (Five Tombs in the West) Royal Cemetery , which is the second largest of its kind in Korea. His three wives (queens) and his daughter-in-law also found their final resting place there.

literature

• Ki-baik Lee : A New History of Korea . Harvard University Press , Seoul 1984, ISBN 0-674-61576-X (English, Chinese: 韓國 史 新 論 . 1961. Translated by Edward W. Wagner).
• Andrew C. Took : Korea - Tradition & Transformation . A History of the Korean People . 2. ed. . Hollym International Corp. , Seoul 1996, ISBN 1-56591-070-2 (English).
• Kim Hiyoul : Korean History . Ed .: Heinrich P. Kelz (=  languages ​​and language learning . Volume 204 ). Asgard-Verlag, St. Augustin 2004, ISBN 3-537-82040-2 (series of the language learning center of the University of Bonn).
• Han Young Woo : Joseon Era . In: A Review of Korean History . Volume 2 . Kyongsaewon Publishing Company , Pajubookcity, Gyeonggi-do 2010, ISBN 978-89-8341-092-4 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Han : Joseon Era . In: A Review of Korean History . 2010, p.  308 .
2. ↑ Kim : Korean History . 2004, p.  147 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Kim : Korean History . 2004, p.  148 .
4. ^ Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  222 .
5. ^ ^{A b} Lee : A New History of Korea . 1984, p.  225 .
6. ^ Taken : Korea - Tradition & Transformation . 1996, p.  127 f .
7. ^ The Royal Tombs of the Joseon . In: Visit Korea . Korea Tourism Organization , accessed July 1, 2018 .