The first large-scale persecution of Catholicism, begun in 1801 (Sunjo 1) under Queen Dowager Jeongsun's ban on Catholicism. Early Church leaders, including Priest Zhou Wenmo, Yi Seung-hun, and Jeong Yak-jong, were executed, Jeong Yak-yong and Jeong Yak-jeon were exiled, and the persecution expanded
Start~End Feb 22, 1801 ~ Jan 25, 1802Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
Sinyu Persecution (辛酉迫害) was a persecution of Joseon Catholics that occurred in 1801 (1st year of King Sunjo). It was an incident in which the Byeokpa faction, which had long sought the elimination of the Sipa faction in their political struggle, used the suppression of Catholicism as a pretext to launch the persecution.
Historical Background
Introduction of Catholicism
Catholicism, which was accepted as a field of learning rather than as a religion,1 became an object of inquiry for scholars from the perspective of supplementing Confucianism (補儒論),23 and in conjunction with the current of Silhak (Practical Learning) it spread among the common people who resented the corrupt ruling system.4 After Yi Seung-hun, the first Korean to be baptized in Beijing, returned home, he secretly formed a faith gathering,5 but in 1785 it was discovered by the Board of Punishments, provoking strong opposition from Confucian scholars. (Myeongnye-bang incident) As a result of this incident, Kim Beom-u died in exile, and Yi Byeok, who led the gathering, was forced by pressure from his clan to take his own life, and the "Myeongnye-bang community" was dissolved. The organization was soon rebuilt and the church grew, but many apostates appeared because of the doctrine prohibiting ancestral rites, and this doctrine became a good pretext for persecution. In the 1787 Banhoe incident, books on Catholic teaching were seized and burned, and the intensity of persecution gradually increased.
Persecution of Catholicism
In 1791, the Jinsan incident, which arose from the burning of ancestral tablets (廢祭焚主), produced the first martyrs. Similar incidents had occurred before, but they had been dismissed as the ignorant deeds of village elders. However, when it was pointed out that the parties involved in this incident were Namin, the matter was turned into a factional dispute, and even King Jeongjo, who had been lenient toward Catholicism, dealt with it firmly. In 1795, after the operation to arrest the Chinese missionary , who was secretly active, failed, believers who had helped him flee and go into hiding were arrested and executed. () Meanwhile, the Noron Byeokpa launched an attack claiming that the Namin were suspected of being involved in this incident, as a result of which was exiled, and and were demoted. Priest , who had fled, hid in the house of and continued his activities in secret. Through his evangelistic work, the number of believers, which had been 4,000 in 1794, approached 10,000 by 1800.
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Since the Shinhae persecution (1791, Jeongjo 15), under the principle that "Confucianism, the orthodox Way, shall extinguish Catholicism, the 'heterodox learning' (邪學)," King Jeongjo, who had pursued a moderate policy toward Catholicism, died on August 18, 1800 (June 28 of the lunar calendar).9 On August 23, 1800 (July 4 of the lunar calendar), King Sunjo ascended the throne at the young age of 11, and with the beginning of the regency of Queen Jeongsun, the second wife of King Yeongjo,10 the Noron Byeokpa took control of the government.1112 Afterward, the Byeokpa, moving Queen Jeongsun, began a purge of the Namin and Sipa under the pretext of strictly prohibiting heterodox learning.1314 On February 22, 1801 (January 10 of the lunar calendar), Queen Jeongsun issued a decree on the strict prohibition of Catholicism.15 Its content was that "Catholic believers are those who believe in heterodox learning that destroys human relations, and they are like beasts that threaten human ethics; they should be made to turn their hearts and abandon this learning, and if they still do not repent, they shall be punished under the law of treason." 16 In this decree, Queen Jeongsun mentioned the application of the Ogajatong law,1718 thereby announcing a harsh system of collective guilt in which, if a Catholic believer was discovered in one out of five households, all of them would be punished.
Political Retribution
Queen Jeongsun, together with her father Kim Han-gu, had taken the lead in the removal of Prince Sado,1920 and therefore opposed the accession of Jeongjo. When Jeongjo ascended the throne in 1776, her family fell into ruin, and she herself lived in hiding. After her elder brother Kim Gwi-ju died in exile in 1786,21 she came to bear resentment toward Jeongjo and the Namin.22 The goal of this Queen Jeongsun was a large-scale purge of the Namin forces that had grown during the reign of Jeongjo.23 The aim was to drive them out of political life and to kill them so they could never recover. The late King Jeongjo had employed the Namin and carried out the Tangpyeong policy in order to check the Noron Byeokpa, the ruling force.24 Since the progressive young Namin faction that Jeongjo favored had shown interest in Western learning, and many were close to Catholicism, this provided a good pretext. Even King Jeongjo, who had taken a flexible stance toward Catholicism, had designated it a heterodox teaching in 1788,2526 so the Noron Byeokpa had nothing to fear. Immediately after Queen Jeongsun's decree, the Byeokpa Chief State Councillor Sim Hwan-ji and the Grand Remonstrance Director Mok Man-jung of the Gongseo faction led the way in arresting the Namin, Sipa, and Sinseo factions.27
Purge of the Namin
The suppression of heterodoxy was merely a pretext; the primary goal was the elimination of three men favored by the late King Jeongjo: Yi Ga-hwan, Gwon Cheol-sin, and Jeong Yak-yong.28 This was because Yi Ga-hwan and Gwon Cheol-sin were leading the Namin after the death of Chae Je-gong, and Jeong Yak-yong was the next-generation leader who would lead the Namin. Yi Ga-hwan in particular had to be killed, because of the long-standing enmity between his family and the Noron Byeokpa dating back to his ancestors. Yi Ga-hwan's great-grandfather, Yi Ha-jin, had served as Vice-Director of the Hongmun-gwan, but during the Gyeongsin Purge of 1680, when the Westerners who came to power exiled him, he died unjustly two years later.29 Moreover, Yi Jam (1660–1706), one of Yi Ga-hwan's paternal great-uncles,30 had been beaten to death for attacking the Noron during the reign of King Sukjong.
Such family history made Yi Ga-hwan the figure the Noron most avoided, to the point that it had been a target of attack for generations.31 He was also the most talented man of his time, whose erudition was unhindered by Eastern or Western learning. Favored by Jeongjo, he had passed through many key posts, and during his lifetime Jeongjo had hinted, through the Ohoe Yeongyo (五晦筵敎), that he intended to appoint Yi Ga-hwan as Prime Minister.32 Although the Noron Byeokpa were aware that Yi Ga-hwan had renounced Catholicism and taken the lead in suppressing it right after the 1791 Jinsan incident, this was unimportant to them. What the Noron Byeokpa wanted was not evidence that Yi Ga-hwan had abandoned Catholicism, but his life.33Yi Ga-hwan and Gwon Cheol-sin died in prison on April 8 after severe torture. Their bodies were beheaded and left in the street.34
Progress
The Chaekrong Discovery Incident
When the Sinyu persecution began, Jeong Yak-jong was already prepared to die, but he believed that the sacred images, doctrinal books, and letters from Priest Zhou Wenmo should be passed on to later generations, so he decided to move them to a safer place and hide them. On January 19, he placed them in a small book chest (冊籠), disguised them as a bundle of firewood, and had a servant carry them, but during transport they were mistaken for a load of illegally slaughtered beef and he was taken to the Police Bureau.35 The court, which gained an unexpected windfall from this incident, used it as an occasion to step up the persecution, and soon arrested leading figures such as Yi Seung-hun and Choe Chang-hyeon in succession. Jeong Yak-jong, arrested on February 11 (lunar calendar), admitted that all the contents of the book chest were his own, and when the interrogation proceeded he protested the injustice of the court's persecution of Catholicism.36 Jeong Yak-jong was martyred on February 26, 1801 (lunar calendar), outside the Seosomun gate, together with Yi Seung-hun, Choe Pil-gong, Choe Chang-hyeon, Hong Nak-min, Hong Gyo-man, and others.37 Jeong Yak-jong's son, Jeong Cheol-sang, was also arrested and sentenced to death on April 2 (lunar calendar).
Arrest of Jeong Yak-yong
Upon hearing the news of the discovery of the book chest, Jeong Yak-yong prepared himself mentally, and on February 8 he was suddenly arrested together with his elder brother Jeong Yak-jeon. During the interrogation, he defended himself by saying that he had come into contact with Catholicism only out of academic interest, and that he had already severed ties with it after the 1791 Jinsan incident (Shinhae persecution).383940 He revealed that when he had been suspected of being a Catholic in 1797, he had written the Jamyeongso to refute the charge, and that in 1799 he had composed the Chaesabangnyak to make his renunciation of the faith clear.41 He also denounced Gwon Cheol-sin, Hwang Sa-yeong, and other Catholic leaders.42
He even proposed that to root out Catholic believers, the weak-faithed slaves and student boys should be interrogated,42 but as the situation turned against him without his being much helped in securing his release, he soon resigned himself. Several factors worked against him: Yi Seung-hun, the first Korean to be baptized and the leader of Catholic missionary activities, was Jeong Yak-yong's brother-in-law;43Jeong Yak-jong, the head of the Catholic doctrinal study group, was his third elder brother; and Yun Ji-chung, who had instigated the earlier Jinsan incident (1791), was his first cousin on his mother's side.44 Then, as the interrogations of the many believers who had been brought in were repeated, evidence of Jeong Yak-yong's renunciation of the faith came pouring out.45 Because of this clear physical evidence, Jeong Yak-yong and Jeong Yak-jeon were reduced in punishment eighteen days after their arrest and sent into exile.
Persecution in the Provinces
The persecution spread to the provinces. On February 9 (lunar calendar), Yi Jong-chang, who was called the "Apostle of Naepo" in Chungcheong Province, was arrested in Gongju. He was taken to Seoul and interrogated, and after his death sentence was confirmed on February 26 (lunar calendar), he was transported back to Gongju and beheaded. Besides him, many Catholics arrested in the provinces were taken to Seoul and then sent back to their hometowns to be executed, in order to instill a sense of alarm in the general public.46 On March 13 (lunar calendar), five people were executed in Yeoju and more than ten in Yanggeun, and on April 2 (lunar calendar), six people including Choe Pil-je were executed. In Jeonju, the persecution began in March (lunar calendar). More than 200 people, including the family of Yu Hang-geom, were imprisoned, and most of them were released after renouncing their faith. Yu Hang-geom was martyred on September 17, and many of his sons and other family members were also martyred.47
Martyrdom of Zhou Wenmo
On March 12 (lunar calendar), Priest Zhou Wenmo surrendered himself, and the persecution of Catholicism regained momentum. Zhou Wenmo had secretly entered the country in 1795 and had devoted himself to evangelism, mainly residing in Seoul at the house of Kang Wan-suk. His secret activities over six years contributed greatly to the expansion of the church, and he also went to the provinces, staying at the homes of Yi Jong-chang in Naepo and Yu Hang-geom in Jeonju, and worked for evangelism in the provinces.48 When the persecution spread across the country, Zhou Wenmo moved his residence several times and even hid in Gyeonghui Palace.49 At one point he went as far as the border region in an attempt to escape to China, but when Catholics suffered because of him, he changed his mind and resolved to surrender himself to the Office of Punishments.46
At the time, some in the Joseon court were concerned about Chinesediplomatic relations and argued for reducing the sentence to exile,50 but the conclusion was execution. Zhou Wenmo was martyred at Saenamteo on May 31 (April 19 of the lunar calendar). The next day, Kim Geon-sun, Kim Baek-sun, Yi Hui-yeong, and others were executed at the execution ground outside the Seosomun gate. Kang Wan-suk, who had devotedly supported Zhou Wenmo for six years, was also beheaded on May 24 (lunar calendar) at the execution ground outside the Seosomun gate, together with eight others, including the court ladies Kang Gyeong-bok, Mun Yeong-in, Choe In-cheol, and Kim Hyeon-u. On the same day, four others who had received death sentences, Go Gwang-seong, Yi Guk-seung, Yun Jeom-hye, and Jeong Sun-mae, were transported to their hometowns and executed. Lady Song, the wife of Prince Eunyeon, and her daughter-in-law Lady Shin, whose secret harboring of Zhou Wenmo inside the palace and baptism had been revealed, were given poison, and as a result, Prince Eunyeon (half-brother of Jeongjo), who was in exile on Ganghwa Island, was also ordered to take poison.51
The Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter Incident
On September 29 (lunar calendar), when Hwang Sa-yeong was arrested, the Sinyu persecution entered a new phase. When news of Hwang Sa-yeong's arrest spread, court officials reportedly rejoiced,46 and when they read the secret letter found in the clothing of the arrested Hwang Sa-yeong, they were all horrified. To the court officials, who were Confucian intellectuals, Hwang Sa-yeong, who believed in Catholicism, which violated Confucian ethics, had requested that a large ship carrying a literate scholar and soldiers be sent to demand freedom of religion, and had intended to sell the country to foreign powers. Hwang Sa-yeong had been prohibited from ancestral rites and had regarded them as idolatry, and Jeong Yak-yong, who had abandoned his faith after recognizing that Catholicism was a religion that contradicted Confucian ethics, had denounced him, so an arrest warrant had been issued on February 11, and afterward Queen Jeongsun issued special arrest warrants several times, but for more than seven months his whereabouts had not been found. Hwang Sa-yeong left Seoul in February when the persecution began, and went to Baeron (舟論) in Bongyang-myeon, Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, a village of Catholic believers who made earthenware, where he hid in a cave.52
While hiding, he gathered information about the persecution through Kim Han-bin and Hwang Sim and organized the materials, and based on these he drafted a secret letter to be sent to Bishop Gouvea in Beijing. This letter, later called the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter (황사영 백서), contained the situation of persecution occurring in Joseon, including the martyrdom of Priest Zhou Wenmo, and a request for help in securing freedom of religion even through the military power of China or Western countries. On November 5, Hwang Sa-yeong was executed by being torn limb from limb (能遲處斬) outside the Seosomun gate for treason.53 Because Hwang Sa-yeong had sought to obtain freedom of religion through the power of foreign forces, the Joseon Catholic Church was subjected to the accusation of being a "treasonous, traitor-nation religion."
Jeong Yak-yong and Jeong Yak-jeon, who was Hwang Sa-yeong's wife's uncle, were identified as being behind the writing of the secret letter, and they were arrested at their places of exile and brought to Seoul to be judged. However, no relevant evidence was found, and as opinions within the Noron Byeokpa were divided,54 they were spared the death penalty. Jeong Yak-yong was again exiled to Gangjin, and Jeong Yak-jeon to Heuksando.
Decree Condemning Heterodoxy (討邪敎文)
On December 22, 1801 (lunar calendar), the Grand Queen Dowager Queen Jeongsun promulgated the Decree Condemning Heterodoxy (討邪敎文).55 Based on the Confucian ideology of defending orthodoxy and repelling heterodoxy (衛正斥邪), it defined Catholicism as heterodox learning (邪學), and it contained the circumstances and results of the Sinyu persecution,56 as well as the purpose that no group should ever again believe in Catholicism. In addition, the number of envoys sent to Qing China was reduced to 200 or fewer, and they were not allowed to stay more than 40 days, and a strict policy of national seclusion began so that Western learning and Western culture could not be encountered.57 The decree also included an item that all those who had committed crimes before December 22 would be released, except those sentenced to death. It also stated that those who believed in heterodox teaching would be severely punished, but this overturned the earlier instruction that they would be dealt with under the law of treason.58 After issuing the decree, Queen Jeongsun ordered that no more Catholics be arrested and that punishments not be imposed on the families of Yi Ga-hwan, Gwon Cheol-sin, and others.59 She also ordered that the disposition of Catholics who had already been arrested be concluded before the year ended. Meanwhile, about 300 people were killed and many others were sent into exile during the one year of persecution.
Chronology of the Persecution
March 17 – Lady Song, wife of Prince Eunyeon, and her daughter-in-law Lady Shin, whose Catholic faith had been revealed, received the sentence of poison.
April 8 – Yi Seung-hun (who was in exile in Yesan County, Chungcheong Province), Jeong Yak-jong, Choe Pil-gong (崔必恭), Choe Chang-hyeon (崔昌顯), Hong Gyo-man (洪敎萬), and Hong Nak-min (洪樂敏) were executed at the execution ground outside Seodaemun.60
April 24 (March 12 of the lunar calendar) – Chinese Priest Zhou Wenmo surrendered himself to the Office of Punishments. He had gone to Hwangju in Hwanghae Province and then returned to Hanyang.
April 28 (March 16 of the lunar calendar) – Kim Geon-sun was arrested.
June 1 (April 20 of the lunar calendar) – Kim Geon-sun was beheaded outside the Seosomun gate.
June 30 – Prince Eunyeon was given poison and executed at his place of exile on Ganghwa Island.
July 2 (May 22 of the lunar calendar) – Kang Wan-suk and the court ladies she had evangelized were martyred together by execution at Seosomun.
October 4 – Hong Pil-ju was martyred by beheading at Seosomun.
October 29 – Hwang Sa-yeong was arrested in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province.
Besides these, Go Gwang-seong (father of Go Sun-i, who was martyred in the Gihae persecution of 1839) was executed.
Aftermath
Rejection of Catholicism
Through the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter, the court's position that Catholicism was heterodox learning was confirmed by its evidence, and Catholicism was branded as a religion of treason.61 When the contents of the "White Silk Letter" became known, Confucian scholars outside of government sent letters to the court denouncing Catholicism, and in Gyeongsang and Jeolla Provinces, movements to reject Catholicism centered on private academies (seowon) broke out fiercely.62 As a social atmosphere rejecting Catholicism took shape, the persecution of Catholicism became even more intense. Among the common people, the idea spread that believing in Catholicism would ruin one's family and reputation, and Catholics came to be pointed at with fingers and called "Cheonju-hakjjaeng" or "Seohak-jjaeng."63 Furthermore, by rejecting both Catholicism and Western learning in the atmosphere of anti-Catholicism, people became unaware of the West, and as a result Joseon's independent modernization was thwarted, which became a cause of colonization.64
Dispatch of the Winter Solstice Mission
In October 1801 (lunar calendar), the envoy dispatched for the Winter Solstice Mission was also given the duty of a "Chinjusa" (陳奏使) to explain the legitimacy of the persecution of Catholicism. After the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter was discovered, the court judged that the execution of the Chinese national Priest Zhou Wenmo was likely to become known to China.65 Accordingly, the Joseon government, through the Chinjusa, urged China to understand the Sinyu persecution as a whole, falsely explained that it had executed Zhou Wenmo without knowing he was a Chinese person, and made clear that there would be no further persecution.66 The Chinjusa Jo Yun-dae's party delivered to China, together with the Decree Condemning Heterodoxy, a reduced version of the contents of the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter consisting of 16 lines and 922 characters.67 This abridged version is commonly called the Ga Baekseo (假帛書, "False Silk Letter"); in it, the content unfavorable to the Joseon court was deleted, and the fact that the letter had requested the dispatch of Western ships and troops was written in a way that justified the persecution.
Spread of Catholicism
Due to the persecution, Zhou Wenmo, Yi Seung-hun, Jeong Yak-jong, Choe Chang-hyeon, Kang Wan-suk, Choe Pil-gong, Hong Gyo-man, Kim Geon-sun, and others, who had been establishing themselves as the first-generation pioneers and leaders of the Joseon Catholic Church, were martyred.68 In the provinces as well, many leading figures were martyred; Yi Jong-chang, who was called the Apostle of the Naepo Church, and Yu Hang-geom and Yu Gwan-geom, brothers who were leading believers of the Jeonju Church, were martyred. As a result, the Joseon Catholic Church suffered a major blow. However, the surviving Catholics fled to avoid danger, hiding in the hills of Gyeonggi Province, the mountainous regions of Gangwon and Chungcheong Provinces, and the deep mountains and valleys of the Taebaek and Sobaek Mountain Ranges, which promoted the nationwide spread of Catholicism. Meanwhile, the Joseon Catholic Church, which had previously been centered on intellectuals, took root among the common people in society around the time of the Sinyu persecution.69
Retirement of Queen Jeongsun
Within a year of the purge, the court was filled with Noron Byeokpa. However, in the summer of 1803 (3rd year of Sunjo), a severe drought struck, and a great fire broke out in Pyongyang and Hamhung. In November that year, the Sajik Musical Instrument Storehouse burned, and on December 13, a major fire also occurred at the Seonjeong Hall and Injeong Hall in Changdeok Palace.7071 Five days later, another large fire broke out in the Jongno street area of the capital. The common people pointed at the palace, saying that if a hen crows the household will be ruined, or that if a fox dwells there, and so on, and low-ranking officials muttered about the Grand Queen Dowager.72 As public sentiment grew turbulent, Queen Jeongsun withdrew from the regency in January 1804. With the start of Sunjo's personal rule, his father-in-law Kim Jo-sun gained power, purged the Byeokpa, and the Andong Kim clan's dominance of government began. Due to the Sinyu persecution, the Namin Sipa were annihilated and reached a state of being unable to recover,73 and this set back Joseon's history, which had been advancing toward reform, and caused Joseon's politics to shift from factional centered to in-law centered.74
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 27 ↩
This refers to a different theory that sought to supplement the limitations of Confucianism with Catholic learning. ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Ricci, Matteo (Everything About Catholicism, November 25, 2007, Baek Min-gwan).....It is the work Tianzhu shiyi (天主實義, 1595). This book was written in Chinese...(omitted)...His evangelization method took a so-called bu-ru-lun (補儒論) position, seeking to make understood to Chinese people, who performed ancestor worship, a religious practice closer to other religious rituals than to Catholicism, without the Western concept of God. ↩
The Byeokpa faction was led mainly by Kim Gwi-ju (died 1786), the elder brother of Queen Jeongsun. ↩
Yi I-hwa, <Korean History Stories 16> Hangil Sa, April 10, 2009, p. 31...On the 4th day of the 7th month, Queen Jeongsun carried out personnel changes, appointing Left State Councilor Sim Hwan-ji as Chief State Councilor and appointing Yi Si-su as Left State Councilor. This broke the customary practice of suspending all governmental affairs, especially personnel measures, during the period of national mourning, and filled the court with her own relatives and Noron Byeokpa figures. Regarding the personnel changes, Chief State Councilor Yi Byeong-mo, who was away as an envoy to the Qing dynasty, was cited as the justification that the Three Chief Offices must be filled during the period of national mourning. ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 64 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Jachan Myojimyeong (Collected Version) 1-9 [自撰墓誌銘-集中本] (Yeoyudang Jeonseo – Collected Prose Writings, Vol. 16, edited by Park Seok-mu, Song Jae-so, Im Hyeong-taek, Baek Hyo-hyo)...In spring of the Sinyu year (1801, 1st year of Sunjo, age 40), Queen Dowager Jeongsun issued an edict warning that those who believed in Western teaching (Seogyo) would have their noses cut off to wipe them out. ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 64 ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 65 ↩
Park Yeong-gyu, <Joseon Dynasty Veritable Records in One Volume> Woongjin Knowledge House, 1996, p. 459 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Queen Jeongsun [貞純王后] (Doosan Encyclopedia).....Whereas her natal family was the central family of the Noron, Crown Prince Sado leaned toward the Soron and was critical of the Noron. It is said that the conflict arising from the fact that the two were of a generation such that she was ten years older than him, like a mother figure, played no small role in King Yeongjo confining Crown Prince Sado in a rice chest, where he died, in 1762. ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 33 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Kim Gwi-ju [金龜柱] (Biographical Dictionary, 2002. 1. 10., Biographical Dictionary Compilation Committee).....When the Crown Prince (Jeongjo) ascended the throne (1776), he was exiled to Heuksando (1779), and later, his sentence was reduced and he was moved to Naju (1784), where he died. ↩
Yi I-hwa, <Korean History Stories 15> Hangil Sa, April 10, 2009, p. 32 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 153 ↩
Yun Jeong-ran, <Queens of Joseon> Iga Publishing, 2003, p. 219 ↩
Im Jung-ung, <Biographies of Queens> Seonyeongsa, 2003, p. 316 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 152 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 136 ↩
Minjung Seorim Editorial Department, <Essence Korean Dictionary> Minjung Seorim, 1974, p. 2056.....A male sibling of one's grandfather (paternal grandfather), a sixth-degree relative (cousin). ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 136 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 26 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 158 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 159 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 62 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, pp. 64–67 ↩
Early Joseon Church Yangban believers largely abandoned Catholic faith after the Holy See, following more than a century of theological debate, banned ancestor rites on the grounds of Doctrine, thereby rejecting Confucian tradition. ↩
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 43 ↩
[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture] Jeong Yak-yong (丁若鏞) ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 94 ↩↩2
[Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Yi Seung-hun (李承薰)]...After growing up, he took as his wife the daughter of Jeong Jae-won (丁載遠) of Majae (馬峴), and became brothers-in-law with Jeong Yak-jeon (丁若銓), Jeong Yak-hyeon (丁若鉉), Jeong Yak-jong (丁若鍾), and Jeong Yak-yong (丁若鏞). ↩
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 43 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 1> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, pp. 94–95 ↩
Sinyu Persecution (辛酉迫害) was a persecution of Joseon Catholics that occurred in 1801 (1st year of King Sunjo). It was an incident in which the Byeokpa faction, which had long sought the elimination of the Sipa faction in their political struggle, used the suppression of Catholicism as a pretext to launch the persecution.
Historical Background
Introduction of Catholicism
Catholicism, which was accepted as a field of learning rather than as a religion,1 became an object of inquiry for scholars from the perspective of supplementing Confucianism (補儒論),23 and in conjunction with the current of Silhak (Practical Learning) it spread among the common people who resented the corrupt ruling system.4 After Yi Seung-hun, the first Korean to be baptized in Beijing, returned home, he secretly formed a faith gathering,5 but in 1785 it was discovered by the Board of Punishments, provoking strong opposition from Confucian scholars. (Myeongnye-bang incident) As a result of this incident, Kim Beom-u died in exile, and Yi Byeok, who led the gathering, was forced by pressure from his clan to take his own life, and the "Myeongnye-bang community" was dissolved. The organization was soon rebuilt and the church grew, but many apostates appeared because of the doctrine prohibiting ancestral rites, and this doctrine became a good pretext for persecution. In the 1787 Banhoe incident, books on Catholic teaching were seized and burned, and the intensity of persecution gradually increased.
Persecution of Catholicism
In 1791, the Jinsan incident, which arose from the burning of ancestral tablets (廢祭焚主), produced the first martyrs. Similar incidents had occurred before, but they had been dismissed as the ignorant deeds of village elders. However, when it was pointed out that the parties involved in this incident were Namin, the matter was turned into a factional dispute, and even King Jeongjo, who had been lenient toward Catholicism, dealt with it firmly. In 1795, after the operation to arrest the Chinese missionary , who was secretly active, failed, believers who had helped him flee and go into hiding were arrested and executed. () Meanwhile, the Noron Byeokpa launched an attack claiming that the Namin were suspected of being involved in this incident, as a result of which was exiled, and and were demoted. Priest , who had fled, hid in the house of and continued his activities in secret. Through his evangelistic work, the number of believers, which had been 4,000 in 1794, approached 10,000 by 1800.
Since the Shinhae persecution (1791, Jeongjo 15), under the principle that "Confucianism, the orthodox Way, shall extinguish Catholicism, the 'heterodox learning' (邪學)," King Jeongjo, who had pursued a moderate policy toward Catholicism, died on August 18, 1800 (June 28 of the lunar calendar).9 On August 23, 1800 (July 4 of the lunar calendar), King Sunjo ascended the throne at the young age of 11, and with the beginning of the regency of Queen Jeongsun, the second wife of King Yeongjo,10 the Noron Byeokpa took control of the government.1112 Afterward, the Byeokpa, moving Queen Jeongsun, began a purge of the Namin and Sipa under the pretext of strictly prohibiting heterodox learning.1314 On February 22, 1801 (January 10 of the lunar calendar), Queen Jeongsun issued a decree on the strict prohibition of Catholicism.15 Its content was that "Catholic believers are those who believe in heterodox learning that destroys human relations, and they are like beasts that threaten human ethics; they should be made to turn their hearts and abandon this learning, and if they still do not repent, they shall be punished under the law of treason." 16 In this decree, Queen Jeongsun mentioned the application of the Ogajatong law,1718 thereby announcing a harsh system of collective guilt in which, if a Catholic believer was discovered in one out of five households, all of them would be punished.
Political Retribution
Queen Jeongsun, together with her father Kim Han-gu, had taken the lead in the removal of Prince Sado,1920 and therefore opposed the accession of Jeongjo. When Jeongjo ascended the throne in 1776, her family fell into ruin, and she herself lived in hiding. After her elder brother Kim Gwi-ju died in exile in 1786,21 she came to bear resentment toward Jeongjo and the Namin.22 The goal of this Queen Jeongsun was a large-scale purge of the Namin forces that had grown during the reign of Jeongjo.23 The aim was to drive them out of political life and to kill them so they could never recover. The late King Jeongjo had employed the Namin and carried out the Tangpyeong policy in order to check the Noron Byeokpa, the ruling force.24 Since the progressive young Namin faction that Jeongjo favored had shown interest in Western learning, and many were close to Catholicism, this provided a good pretext. Even King Jeongjo, who had taken a flexible stance toward Catholicism, had designated it a heterodox teaching in 1788,2526 so the Noron Byeokpa had nothing to fear. Immediately after Queen Jeongsun's decree, the Byeokpa Chief State Councillor Sim Hwan-ji and the Grand Remonstrance Director Mok Man-jung of the Gongseo faction led the way in arresting the Namin, Sipa, and Sinseo factions.27
Purge of the Namin
The suppression of heterodoxy was merely a pretext; the primary goal was the elimination of three men favored by the late King Jeongjo: Yi Ga-hwan, Gwon Cheol-sin, and Jeong Yak-yong.28 This was because Yi Ga-hwan and Gwon Cheol-sin were leading the Namin after the death of Chae Je-gong, and Jeong Yak-yong was the next-generation leader who would lead the Namin. Yi Ga-hwan in particular had to be killed, because of the long-standing enmity between his family and the Noron Byeokpa dating back to his ancestors. Yi Ga-hwan's great-grandfather, Yi Ha-jin, had served as Vice-Director of the Hongmun-gwan, but during the Gyeongsin Purge of 1680, when the Westerners who came to power exiled him, he died unjustly two years later.29 Moreover, Yi Jam (1660–1706), one of Yi Ga-hwan's paternal great-uncles,30 had been beaten to death for attacking the Noron during the reign of King Sukjong.
Such family history made Yi Ga-hwan the figure the Noron most avoided, to the point that it had been a target of attack for generations.31 He was also the most talented man of his time, whose erudition was unhindered by Eastern or Western learning. Favored by Jeongjo, he had passed through many key posts, and during his lifetime Jeongjo had hinted, through the Ohoe Yeongyo (五晦筵敎), that he intended to appoint Yi Ga-hwan as Prime Minister.32 Although the Noron Byeokpa were aware that Yi Ga-hwan had renounced Catholicism and taken the lead in suppressing it right after the 1791 Jinsan incident, this was unimportant to them. What the Noron Byeokpa wanted was not evidence that Yi Ga-hwan had abandoned Catholicism, but his life.33Yi Ga-hwan and Gwon Cheol-sin died in prison on April 8 after severe torture. Their bodies were beheaded and left in the street.34
Progress
The Chaekrong Discovery Incident
When the Sinyu persecution began, Jeong Yak-jong was already prepared to die, but he believed that the sacred images, doctrinal books, and letters from Priest Zhou Wenmo should be passed on to later generations, so he decided to move them to a safer place and hide them. On January 19, he placed them in a small book chest (冊籠), disguised them as a bundle of firewood, and had a servant carry them, but during transport they were mistaken for a load of illegally slaughtered beef and he was taken to the Police Bureau.35 The court, which gained an unexpected windfall from this incident, used it as an occasion to step up the persecution, and soon arrested leading figures such as Yi Seung-hun and Choe Chang-hyeon in succession. Jeong Yak-jong, arrested on February 11 (lunar calendar), admitted that all the contents of the book chest were his own, and when the interrogation proceeded he protested the injustice of the court's persecution of Catholicism.36 Jeong Yak-jong was martyred on February 26, 1801 (lunar calendar), outside the Seosomun gate, together with Yi Seung-hun, Choe Pil-gong, Choe Chang-hyeon, Hong Nak-min, Hong Gyo-man, and others.37 Jeong Yak-jong's son, Jeong Cheol-sang, was also arrested and sentenced to death on April 2 (lunar calendar).
Arrest of Jeong Yak-yong
Upon hearing the news of the discovery of the book chest, Jeong Yak-yong prepared himself mentally, and on February 8 he was suddenly arrested together with his elder brother Jeong Yak-jeon. During the interrogation, he defended himself by saying that he had come into contact with Catholicism only out of academic interest, and that he had already severed ties with it after the 1791 Jinsan incident (Shinhae persecution).383940 He revealed that when he had been suspected of being a Catholic in 1797, he had written the Jamyeongso to refute the charge, and that in 1799 he had composed the Chaesabangnyak to make his renunciation of the faith clear.41 He also denounced Gwon Cheol-sin, Hwang Sa-yeong, and other Catholic leaders.42
He even proposed that to root out Catholic believers, the weak-faithed slaves and student boys should be interrogated,42 but as the situation turned against him without his being much helped in securing his release, he soon resigned himself. Several factors worked against him: Yi Seung-hun, the first Korean to be baptized and the leader of Catholic missionary activities, was Jeong Yak-yong's brother-in-law;43Jeong Yak-jong, the head of the Catholic doctrinal study group, was his third elder brother; and Yun Ji-chung, who had instigated the earlier Jinsan incident (1791), was his first cousin on his mother's side.44 Then, as the interrogations of the many believers who had been brought in were repeated, evidence of Jeong Yak-yong's renunciation of the faith came pouring out.45 Because of this clear physical evidence, Jeong Yak-yong and Jeong Yak-jeon were reduced in punishment eighteen days after their arrest and sent into exile.
Persecution in the Provinces
The persecution spread to the provinces. On February 9 (lunar calendar), Yi Jong-chang, who was called the "Apostle of Naepo" in Chungcheong Province, was arrested in Gongju. He was taken to Seoul and interrogated, and after his death sentence was confirmed on February 26 (lunar calendar), he was transported back to Gongju and beheaded. Besides him, many Catholics arrested in the provinces were taken to Seoul and then sent back to their hometowns to be executed, in order to instill a sense of alarm in the general public.46 On March 13 (lunar calendar), five people were executed in Yeoju and more than ten in Yanggeun, and on April 2 (lunar calendar), six people including Choe Pil-je were executed. In Jeonju, the persecution began in March (lunar calendar). More than 200 people, including the family of Yu Hang-geom, were imprisoned, and most of them were released after renouncing their faith. Yu Hang-geom was martyred on September 17, and many of his sons and other family members were also martyred.47
Martyrdom of Zhou Wenmo
On March 12 (lunar calendar), Priest Zhou Wenmo surrendered himself, and the persecution of Catholicism regained momentum. Zhou Wenmo had secretly entered the country in 1795 and had devoted himself to evangelism, mainly residing in Seoul at the house of Kang Wan-suk. His secret activities over six years contributed greatly to the expansion of the church, and he also went to the provinces, staying at the homes of Yi Jong-chang in Naepo and Yu Hang-geom in Jeonju, and worked for evangelism in the provinces.48 When the persecution spread across the country, Zhou Wenmo moved his residence several times and even hid in Gyeonghui Palace.49 At one point he went as far as the border region in an attempt to escape to China, but when Catholics suffered because of him, he changed his mind and resolved to surrender himself to the Office of Punishments.46
At the time, some in the Joseon court were concerned about Chinesediplomatic relations and argued for reducing the sentence to exile,50 but the conclusion was execution. Zhou Wenmo was martyred at Saenamteo on May 31 (April 19 of the lunar calendar). The next day, Kim Geon-sun, Kim Baek-sun, Yi Hui-yeong, and others were executed at the execution ground outside the Seosomun gate. Kang Wan-suk, who had devotedly supported Zhou Wenmo for six years, was also beheaded on May 24 (lunar calendar) at the execution ground outside the Seosomun gate, together with eight others, including the court ladies Kang Gyeong-bok, Mun Yeong-in, Choe In-cheol, and Kim Hyeon-u. On the same day, four others who had received death sentences, Go Gwang-seong, Yi Guk-seung, Yun Jeom-hye, and Jeong Sun-mae, were transported to their hometowns and executed. Lady Song, the wife of Prince Eunyeon, and her daughter-in-law Lady Shin, whose secret harboring of Zhou Wenmo inside the palace and baptism had been revealed, were given poison, and as a result, Prince Eunyeon (half-brother of Jeongjo), who was in exile on Ganghwa Island, was also ordered to take poison.51
The Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter Incident
On September 29 (lunar calendar), when Hwang Sa-yeong was arrested, the Sinyu persecution entered a new phase. When news of Hwang Sa-yeong's arrest spread, court officials reportedly rejoiced,46 and when they read the secret letter found in the clothing of the arrested Hwang Sa-yeong, they were all horrified. To the court officials, who were Confucian intellectuals, Hwang Sa-yeong, who believed in Catholicism, which violated Confucian ethics, had requested that a large ship carrying a literate scholar and soldiers be sent to demand freedom of religion, and had intended to sell the country to foreign powers. Hwang Sa-yeong had been prohibited from ancestral rites and had regarded them as idolatry, and Jeong Yak-yong, who had abandoned his faith after recognizing that Catholicism was a religion that contradicted Confucian ethics, had denounced him, so an arrest warrant had been issued on February 11, and afterward Queen Jeongsun issued special arrest warrants several times, but for more than seven months his whereabouts had not been found. Hwang Sa-yeong left Seoul in February when the persecution began, and went to Baeron (舟論) in Bongyang-myeon, Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, a village of Catholic believers who made earthenware, where he hid in a cave.52
While hiding, he gathered information about the persecution through Kim Han-bin and Hwang Sim and organized the materials, and based on these he drafted a secret letter to be sent to Bishop Gouvea in Beijing. This letter, later called the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter (황사영 백서), contained the situation of persecution occurring in Joseon, including the martyrdom of Priest Zhou Wenmo, and a request for help in securing freedom of religion even through the military power of China or Western countries. On November 5, Hwang Sa-yeong was executed by being torn limb from limb (能遲處斬) outside the Seosomun gate for treason.53 Because Hwang Sa-yeong had sought to obtain freedom of religion through the power of foreign forces, the Joseon Catholic Church was subjected to the accusation of being a "treasonous, traitor-nation religion."
Jeong Yak-yong and Jeong Yak-jeon, who was Hwang Sa-yeong's wife's uncle, were identified as being behind the writing of the secret letter, and they were arrested at their places of exile and brought to Seoul to be judged. However, no relevant evidence was found, and as opinions within the Noron Byeokpa were divided,54 they were spared the death penalty. Jeong Yak-yong was again exiled to Gangjin, and Jeong Yak-jeon to Heuksando.
Decree Condemning Heterodoxy (討邪敎文)
On December 22, 1801 (lunar calendar), the Grand Queen Dowager Queen Jeongsun promulgated the Decree Condemning Heterodoxy (討邪敎文).55 Based on the Confucian ideology of defending orthodoxy and repelling heterodoxy (衛正斥邪), it defined Catholicism as heterodox learning (邪學), and it contained the circumstances and results of the Sinyu persecution,56 as well as the purpose that no group should ever again believe in Catholicism. In addition, the number of envoys sent to Qing China was reduced to 200 or fewer, and they were not allowed to stay more than 40 days, and a strict policy of national seclusion began so that Western learning and Western culture could not be encountered.57 The decree also included an item that all those who had committed crimes before December 22 would be released, except those sentenced to death. It also stated that those who believed in heterodox teaching would be severely punished, but this overturned the earlier instruction that they would be dealt with under the law of treason.58 After issuing the decree, Queen Jeongsun ordered that no more Catholics be arrested and that punishments not be imposed on the families of Yi Ga-hwan, Gwon Cheol-sin, and others.59 She also ordered that the disposition of Catholics who had already been arrested be concluded before the year ended. Meanwhile, about 300 people were killed and many others were sent into exile during the one year of persecution.
Chronology of the Persecution
March 17 – Lady Song, wife of Prince Eunyeon, and her daughter-in-law Lady Shin, whose Catholic faith had been revealed, received the sentence of poison.
April 8 – Yi Seung-hun (who was in exile in Yesan County, Chungcheong Province), Jeong Yak-jong, Choe Pil-gong (崔必恭), Choe Chang-hyeon (崔昌顯), Hong Gyo-man (洪敎萬), and Hong Nak-min (洪樂敏) were executed at the execution ground outside Seodaemun.60
April 24 (March 12 of the lunar calendar) – Chinese Priest Zhou Wenmo surrendered himself to the Office of Punishments. He had gone to Hwangju in Hwanghae Province and then returned to Hanyang.
April 28 (March 16 of the lunar calendar) – Kim Geon-sun was arrested.
June 1 (April 20 of the lunar calendar) – Kim Geon-sun was beheaded outside the Seosomun gate.
June 30 – Prince Eunyeon was given poison and executed at his place of exile on Ganghwa Island.
July 2 (May 22 of the lunar calendar) – Kang Wan-suk and the court ladies she had evangelized were martyred together by execution at Seosomun.
October 4 – Hong Pil-ju was martyred by beheading at Seosomun.
October 29 – Hwang Sa-yeong was arrested in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province.
Besides these, Go Gwang-seong (father of Go Sun-i, who was martyred in the Gihae persecution of 1839) was executed.
Aftermath
Rejection of Catholicism
Through the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter, the court's position that Catholicism was heterodox learning was confirmed by its evidence, and Catholicism was branded as a religion of treason.61 When the contents of the "White Silk Letter" became known, Confucian scholars outside of government sent letters to the court denouncing Catholicism, and in Gyeongsang and Jeolla Provinces, movements to reject Catholicism centered on private academies (seowon) broke out fiercely.62 As a social atmosphere rejecting Catholicism took shape, the persecution of Catholicism became even more intense. Among the common people, the idea spread that believing in Catholicism would ruin one's family and reputation, and Catholics came to be pointed at with fingers and called "Cheonju-hakjjaeng" or "Seohak-jjaeng."63 Furthermore, by rejecting both Catholicism and Western learning in the atmosphere of anti-Catholicism, people became unaware of the West, and as a result Joseon's independent modernization was thwarted, which became a cause of colonization.64
Dispatch of the Winter Solstice Mission
In October 1801 (lunar calendar), the envoy dispatched for the Winter Solstice Mission was also given the duty of a "Chinjusa" (陳奏使) to explain the legitimacy of the persecution of Catholicism. After the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter was discovered, the court judged that the execution of the Chinese national Priest Zhou Wenmo was likely to become known to China.65 Accordingly, the Joseon government, through the Chinjusa, urged China to understand the Sinyu persecution as a whole, falsely explained that it had executed Zhou Wenmo without knowing he was a Chinese person, and made clear that there would be no further persecution.66 The Chinjusa Jo Yun-dae's party delivered to China, together with the Decree Condemning Heterodoxy, a reduced version of the contents of the Hwang Sa-yeong White Silk Letter consisting of 16 lines and 922 characters.67 This abridged version is commonly called the Ga Baekseo (假帛書, "False Silk Letter"); in it, the content unfavorable to the Joseon court was deleted, and the fact that the letter had requested the dispatch of Western ships and troops was written in a way that justified the persecution.
Spread of Catholicism
Due to the persecution, Zhou Wenmo, Yi Seung-hun, Jeong Yak-jong, Choe Chang-hyeon, Kang Wan-suk, Choe Pil-gong, Hong Gyo-man, Kim Geon-sun, and others, who had been establishing themselves as the first-generation pioneers and leaders of the Joseon Catholic Church, were martyred.68 In the provinces as well, many leading figures were martyred; Yi Jong-chang, who was called the Apostle of the Naepo Church, and Yu Hang-geom and Yu Gwan-geom, brothers who were leading believers of the Jeonju Church, were martyred. As a result, the Joseon Catholic Church suffered a major blow. However, the surviving Catholics fled to avoid danger, hiding in the hills of Gyeonggi Province, the mountainous regions of Gangwon and Chungcheong Provinces, and the deep mountains and valleys of the Taebaek and Sobaek Mountain Ranges, which promoted the nationwide spread of Catholicism. Meanwhile, the Joseon Catholic Church, which had previously been centered on intellectuals, took root among the common people in society around the time of the Sinyu persecution.69
Retirement of Queen Jeongsun
Within a year of the purge, the court was filled with Noron Byeokpa. However, in the summer of 1803 (3rd year of Sunjo), a severe drought struck, and a great fire broke out in Pyongyang and Hamhung. In November that year, the Sajik Musical Instrument Storehouse burned, and on December 13, a major fire also occurred at the Seonjeong Hall and Injeong Hall in Changdeok Palace.7071 Five days later, another large fire broke out in the Jongno street area of the capital. The common people pointed at the palace, saying that if a hen crows the household will be ruined, or that if a fox dwells there, and so on, and low-ranking officials muttered about the Grand Queen Dowager.72 As public sentiment grew turbulent, Queen Jeongsun withdrew from the regency in January 1804. With the start of Sunjo's personal rule, his father-in-law Kim Jo-sun gained power, purged the Byeokpa, and the Andong Kim clan's dominance of government began. Due to the Sinyu persecution, the Namin Sipa were annihilated and reached a state of being unable to recover,73 and this set back Joseon's history, which had been advancing toward reform, and caused Joseon's politics to shift from factional centered to in-law centered.74
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 27 ↩
This refers to a different theory that sought to supplement the limitations of Confucianism with Catholic learning. ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Ricci, Matteo (Everything About Catholicism, November 25, 2007, Baek Min-gwan).....It is the work Tianzhu shiyi (天主實義, 1595). This book was written in Chinese...(omitted)...His evangelization method took a so-called bu-ru-lun (補儒論) position, seeking to make understood to Chinese people, who performed ancestor worship, a religious practice closer to other religious rituals than to Catholicism, without the Western concept of God. ↩
The Byeokpa faction was led mainly by Kim Gwi-ju (died 1786), the elder brother of Queen Jeongsun. ↩
Yi I-hwa, <Korean History Stories 16> Hangil Sa, April 10, 2009, p. 31...On the 4th day of the 7th month, Queen Jeongsun carried out personnel changes, appointing Left State Councilor Sim Hwan-ji as Chief State Councilor and appointing Yi Si-su as Left State Councilor. This broke the customary practice of suspending all governmental affairs, especially personnel measures, during the period of national mourning, and filled the court with her own relatives and Noron Byeokpa figures. Regarding the personnel changes, Chief State Councilor Yi Byeong-mo, who was away as an envoy to the Qing dynasty, was cited as the justification that the Three Chief Offices must be filled during the period of national mourning. ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 64 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Jachan Myojimyeong (Collected Version) 1-9 [自撰墓誌銘-集中本] (Yeoyudang Jeonseo – Collected Prose Writings, Vol. 16, edited by Park Seok-mu, Song Jae-so, Im Hyeong-taek, Baek Hyo-hyo)...In spring of the Sinyu year (1801, 1st year of Sunjo, age 40), Queen Dowager Jeongsun issued an edict warning that those who believed in Western teaching (Seogyo) would have their noses cut off to wipe them out. ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 64 ↩
Min Gyeong-bae, <History of Korean Christianity> Yonsei University Press, 1995, p. 65 ↩
Park Yeong-gyu, <Joseon Dynasty Veritable Records in One Volume> Woongjin Knowledge House, 1996, p. 459 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Queen Jeongsun [貞純王后] (Doosan Encyclopedia).....Whereas her natal family was the central family of the Noron, Crown Prince Sado leaned toward the Soron and was critical of the Noron. It is said that the conflict arising from the fact that the two were of a generation such that she was ten years older than him, like a mother figure, played no small role in King Yeongjo confining Crown Prince Sado in a rice chest, where he died, in 1762. ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 33 ↩
[Naver Knowledge Encyclopedia] Kim Gwi-ju [金龜柱] (Biographical Dictionary, 2002. 1. 10., Biographical Dictionary Compilation Committee).....When the Crown Prince (Jeongjo) ascended the throne (1776), he was exiled to Heuksando (1779), and later, his sentence was reduced and he was moved to Naju (1784), where he died. ↩
Yi I-hwa, <Korean History Stories 15> Hangil Sa, April 10, 2009, p. 32 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 153 ↩
Yun Jeong-ran, <Queens of Joseon> Iga Publishing, 2003, p. 219 ↩
Im Jung-ung, <Biographies of Queens> Seonyeongsa, 2003, p. 316 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 152 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 136 ↩
Minjung Seorim Editorial Department, <Essence Korean Dictionary> Minjung Seorim, 1974, p. 2056.....A male sibling of one's grandfather (paternal grandfather), a sixth-degree relative (cousin). ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 136 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 26 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 158 ↩
Yi Deok-il et al., <Geniuses of Korean History> Saenggak-ui Namu, 2006, p. 159 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 62 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, pp. 64–67 ↩
Early Joseon Church Yangban believers largely abandoned Catholic faith after the Holy See, following more than a century of theological debate, banned ancestor rites on the grounds of Doctrine, thereby rejecting Confucian tradition. ↩
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 43 ↩
[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture] Jeong Yak-yong (丁若鏞) ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 2> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, p. 94 ↩↩2
[Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Yi Seung-hun (李承薰)]...After growing up, he took as his wife the daughter of Jeong Jae-won (丁載遠) of Majae (馬峴), and became brothers-in-law with Jeong Yak-jeon (丁若銓), Jeong Yak-hyeon (丁若鉉), Jeong Yak-jong (丁若鍾), and Jeong Yak-yong (丁若鏞). ↩
Kang Jun-man, <Korean Modern History Walks 1> Insight and Thought, March 31, 2011, p. 43 ↩
Yi Deok-il, <Jeong Yak-yong and His Brothers 1> Gimm-Young Publishers, 2004, pp. 94–95 ↩