Execution of his mother Lady Yun, later known as the
Deposed Queen Yun, served Yeonsangun's father,
King Seongjong, as a
concubine until the death of
Queen Gonghye, Seongjong's first wife. With no heir, the king was urged by counselors to take a second wife to secure the
royal succession. Lady Yun was chosen for her beauty and was formally married in 1476. Several months later, she gave birth to Yi Yung. The new queen proved to be temperamental and highly jealous of the other concubines, even going as far as poisoning one of them in 1477. One night in 1479, she physically struck her husband (the king) and left scratch marks. Despite his efforts to conceal the injury, Seongjong's mother,
Royal Queen Dowager Insu, discovered the truth and ordered Lady Yun into exile. After several attempts to restore the deposed queen to her former position, government officials petitioned that she be executed. Queen Yun died in 1482, after being ordered to commit suicide by drinking poison.
Literati purges The crown prince grew up believing that he was the son of
Queen Jeonghyeon, his father's third wife. He succeeded to the throne in 1495 and during his early reign, he was a wise and able administrator who strengthened the national defense and aided the poor. However, he also showed signs of a violent side when he killed Jo Sa-seo, one of his tutors, soon after becoming king. Yeonsangun eventually learned the truth about his biological mother and attempted to posthumously restore her titles and position. However, government officials belonging to the
Sarim faction opposed his efforts on account of serving Seongjong's will, and greatly displeased, Yeonsangun started looking for ways to eliminate them. In 1498, , a disciple of
Kim Chong-jik, included a paragraph in the royal records that was critical of
King Sejo's
coup d'état (1455). Kim Il-son and other followers of Kim Chong-jik were accused of treason by a rival faction, giving the king cause enough to order the execution of many Sarim officials and the mutilation of Kim Chong-jik's remains. This came to be known as the
First Literati Purge (
Muo Sahwa; 무오사화, 戊午士禍). In 1504,
Im Sa-hong revealed to Yeonsangun the details of his mother's death and showed him a blood-stained piece of clothing that was obtained from Lady Yun's mother, the blood allegedly vomited by her after taking poison. Subsequently, Yeonsangun beat to death two of his father's concubines, Lady Jeong and Lady Eom, for their part in his mother's death. His grandmother,
Grand Royal Queen Dowager Insu, also died soon after he pushed her during an altercation. He sentenced to death many government officials who had supported the execution of his mother, now
posthumously honored as "Queen Jeheon" (), and ordered the grave of
Han Myŏnghoe to be opened and the head to be cut off the corpse. Yeonsangun went as far as punishing officials who were simply present at the royal court at that time, for the crime of not preventing the actions of those who abused his mother. He also demolished a large residential area in the capital and evicted 20,000 residents to build hunting grounds. People were forced into
involuntary labor to work on these projects. Many commoners mocked and insulted him with posters written in
hangul, and in retaliation, Yeonsangun banned the use of the script. Furthermore, Yeonsangun was the only monarch of the Joseon dynasty who tried to dismantle Buddhism in Joseon; he attempted to abolish the system of head monasteries and examinations during his reign. When court officials protested against his actions, he abolished the
Office of Censors (whose function was to criticize any inappropriate actions or policies of the king) and the
Office of Special Advisors (a library and research institute that advised the king with
Confucian teachings). He ordered his ministers to wear a sign that read: "A mouth is a door that brings in disaster; a tongue is a sword that cuts off a head. A body will be in peace as long as its mouth is closed and its tongue is deep within" (口是禍之門 舌是斬身刀 閉口深藏舌 安身處處牢).
Chief Eunuch Kim Cheo-sun, who had served three kings, tried to convince him to change his ways, but Yeonsangun killed him by shooting him with arrows and personally cutting off his limbs. In addition, he also punished the eunuch's relatives down to the
7th degree, and when he asked the royal secretaries whether such punishment was appropriate, they did not dare to say otherwise.
Hangul ban On July19, 1504, the 10th year of Yeonsan's reign, three
tuseos () written in Hangul and mocking and insulting him for his tyranny were discovered. The
tuseos criticized him for his violence towards his ministers and his lust for women. The author was unidentifiable. Enraged, Yeonsan ordered a total ban on the learning, teaching, or using of Hangul, and ordered the five
Hansung administrative districts to identify and report all the individuals who knew how to use it, and to punish people who did not report on their neighbors. He also ordered comparisons of the handwriting of people who had been reported. In addition, he offered high-ranking titles and large amounts of money as rewards for identifying the author. On July22, Yeonsan ordered the beheading of people who were using Hangul, and severe beatings () for persons who did not report others. He ordered his court's ministers to burn all the books in their homes with Hangul
gugyeol footnotes. However, he allowed Hangul books translated from
hanja, or
Unhaeseo (). These books were often the works of a former monarch, and it is speculated that even a tyrant like Yeonsan could not have purged the achievements of the former monarchs, who were also his ancestors. ==Family==