Gisa Hwangguk

Overview

The Gisa Hwangguk (己巳換局) was an event in 1689 (the 15th year of King Sukjong) in which, during the process of designating the son (later King Gyeongjong) of the king's favored concubine Consort So Jang (Jang Huibin) as the crown prince (wonja), the Westerner faction, especially the Noron, which had held power since the Gyeongsin Hwangguk, was largely driven out and the Southerner faction regained control of the government. Song Si-yeol, leader of the Noron, was executed, and on the 2nd day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar that year (June 18 in the solar calendar), Queen Inhyeon Min was deposed and Jang was elevated to queen.

Background

When King Sukjong's first queen, Queen Inkyeong, died in October 1680, Sukjong took the daughter of Min Yu-jung as his second queen (Queen Inhyeon). While Queen Inhyeon had no son, Jang, who had begun to receive Sukjong's favor around 1686, gave birth to a son in 1688.

Jang's associates had been entangled in politics from an early stage. In the year after Jang was made Sukwon, Jo Sa-seok, who was close to Jang's maternal family, rose to右議政 (Deputy Premier), and the royal kinsman Prince Dongpyeong Yi Hang, unusually, served as Director of the Seonhyecheong and frequented the palace, connecting with Jang's elder brother Jang Hui-jae. When Jang gave birth to a son, these figures began working closely with the Southerners in earnest.

Course of Events

In 1689, when King Sukjong announced his intention to designate Jang's son as crown prince, Premier Kim Su-heung, together with Minister of Personnel Nam Yong-ik, Minister of Revenue Yu Sang-un, Minister of War Yun Ji-wan, and Grand Censor Choe Gyu-seo, objected that the queen was still young and that it was improper to designate as heir the child of a concubine who was only two months old. The king overrode the objections, saying that the state's situation was precarious and that there were powerful neighbors, so the great plan for the ancestral shrines and altars could not be delayed; within five days he reported the designation of the crown prince to the royal ancestral shrine and altars, and then elevated Jang to Huibin.

Song Si-yeol, who was serving as 奉朝賀 (honorary retired official), again submitted a memorial opposing the move, citing the precedent of the Song emperor Shenzong, who did not immediately make a concubine's son crown prince. This became the decisive trigger for the purge of the Noron. The king stripped Song of his official rank and banished him, dismissed Premier Kim Su-heung from office, and appointed many Southerners, including Mok Nae-seon, Kim Deok-won, Min Jong-do, Min Am, and Mok Chang-myeong. Song was exiled to Jeju Island and later executed, while Yi Myeong-hyeon, Kim Man-jung, and Kim Su-hang were also killed or exiled.

In the 4th month of the lunar calendar, when the king indicated his intention to depose Queen Min, 86 men led by O Du-in submitted a joint memorial opposing it; the principal instigators, Park Tae-bo, Yi Se-hwa, and O Du-in, were interrogated, and were exiled or placed under confinement with a fence of thorns (wirian-chi). Finally, on the 2nd day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, Queen Inhyeon was deposed and Consort Jang Huibin was invested as queen.