Thursday, March 28, 2024
FILM&DRAMAKOREAN HISTORY

Who is the King in Dae Jang Geum?

The historical drama Dae Jang Geum (aka Jewel in the Palace, MBC 2003) is set in the 16th century. This was the mid-Joseon period. The drama starts during the reign of King Seongjong (r.1469-94) (although we don’t actually see the king) and ends with the reign of King Myeongjong (r.1545-1567) (who we only see as a child). But the main king in Dae Jang Geum is King Jungjong (r.1506-1544).

He was the king who had the difficult task of trying to clear up the mess created by his predecessor the tyrant, Yeonsangun (r.1494-1506).

In this post I find out more about the reign of King Jungjong and the historical events that are dramatised in the series.

Who is the king in Dae Jang Geum?

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Episode 3 the coronation of King Jungjong, the king in dae jang geum

King Jungjong (r.1506-1544) is the king in Dae Jang Geum for most of the series. He was the half brother of the previous tyrant king Yeonsangun (r.1494-1506).  However, the hungu faction carried out a coup to overthrow Yeonsangun in 1506. Then they put King Jungjong on the throne.

So King Jungjong was the first king to come to the throne after a coup by government officials! He tried to make reforms, but he was often overpowered by the powerful hungu ministers. And his reign saw a lot of political fighting including two literati purges. There were natural disasters too as famine brought starvation towards the end of his reign.

His reign was also influenced by the court he inherited from his half brother Yeonsangun.

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Yeonsangun and the poisoning of his mother, deposed Queen Yun (1482)

the death of Queen Yun 1482

Several political events are portrayed in the drama. The first is the death of King Seongjong’s deposed Queen Yun.

At the beginning of the drama we see the future king Yeonsangun as a child playing hide and seek with the court ladies. But after he becomes king, he realises what happened to his mother…

Queen Yun was Yeonsangun’s mother. She had been a concubine but was then promoted to Queen (which never seems to end well. See Jang Hee-bin.) Kings could have several concubines as well as the queen. But in a jealous rage, Queen Yun left scratches on the king which led to calls for her execution.

In Episode 1 Queen Yun is executed.

But Jang Geum’s future father has the misfortune of being a royal guard at the time. And he has to follow orders from the incumbent King Seonjong to execute the deposed Queen Yun. She is forced to drink poison.

Yeonsangun

Episode 2 Yeonsangun holds a cloth covered with his mother's blood

This is dramatised in episode 1 of the drama.

Now Jang Geum’s father is afraid for his own safety since he was involved in the execution. Many years have passed but Yeonsangun has a reputation for being cruel. There are rumours that he’s become an unpredictably violent murderer and killed his own teacher as well as his father’s beloved deer. 

He punishes anyone related to the execution of his mother. (This became known as the literati purge of 1498. Both Sarim and Hungu officials were exiled, tortured, or executed. Two more literati purges followed (1504 and 1519) which are also dramatised in the drama).

Jang Geum’s father gets arrested when she accidentally reveals his identity.

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episode 2 Dae Jang Geum literati purge

The coup to depose the tyrant Yeonsangun

Yeonsangun is a tyrant king. So members of the hungu faction plan a coup. We can see this dramatised in episode 3.

Jang Geum is an orphan living with Duk Gu and his wife who sell alcohol to the palace. The hungu officials pick Jang Geum to unwittingly deliver a message to Prince Jinsung (later King Jungjong) telling him they plan to depose Yeonsangun and put him on the throne instead. He’s not happy about this but next thing we know the coup is a success and it’s King Jungjong’s coronation.

The coronation of King Jungjong is in episode 3. He looks solemn in the ceremony clearly mulling over the enormity of what he is doing! But he has been forced into this position. He was not in direct line to the throne. And so must feel that he doesn’t have the right to be King. Deposing a king was a big deal as the king had the mandate of heaven.

Episode 3 the hungu faction plot a coup of the king in Dae Jang Geum

Who are the Hungu Faction?

Perhaps there was a noble reason involved in the coup to depose Yeonsangun. After all, he was such a dreadful king. But in Dae Jang Geum, the hungu officials who deposed Yeonsangun are portrayed as corrupt, greedy, and power hungry.

So although the immorality and cruelty of Yeonsangun’s court has changed under King Jungjong, bribery and corruption continue.

In the drama, it is the greedy and ambitious Lord Oh, a high ranking minister of the hungu faction, who is particularly bad. He is a fictitious character. But he represents the kind of greedy officials that were prevalent in the court at the time.

He receives bribes from the merchant Choi Pan Sul and lets him have a monopoly on selling goods to the palace.

episode 21 Lady Choi and Lord Oh in Jewel in the Palace

The Choi family

In the drama, the fictitious Choi family cause lots of trouble by doing whatever it takes to support the powerful hungu faction. Before the coup, Jang Geum’s future mother notices Lady Choi putting dodgy ingredients in the queen mother’s food. But when she reports this, she is framed and poisoned.

Clearly, the ladies in the Choi family have had to get their hands dirty to keep the top positions at court for 5 generations. They do what it takes to stay there. So if that means poisoning one or two Royals along the way, then so be it.

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Literati Purge 1519

episode 27 Jang Geum and Lady Han get caught up in the literati purge of 1519.

We get another mix of fact and fiction with the literati purge of 1519. The fictitious Lord Oh of the hungu faction teams up with the Choi family to frame all his enemies.

This includes the (real life) sarim official *Jo Gwang Jo.

Lord Oh also tries to frame Lady Han and Jang Geum during the purge. He alleges that they are in cahoots with Jo Gwang Jo and have attempted to poison the king with duck soup!

 (*Jo Gwang Jo was a sarim official who worked for the king and tried to make reforms. He was exiled and framed by the hungu officials and finally forced to drink poison by the king’s order. We never actually see him. We only hear that the king’s orders have been carried out.)

The Reign of King Jungjong

Episode 3 the coronation of King Jungjong, the king in dae jang geum

King Jungjong (played by Im Ho) is portrayed as a serious and frustrated king. His reign is full of stressful relationships as he must repay and reward those who put him on the throne. They are the hungu faction and the Ming dynasty.

He admits to Jang Geum that he didn’t want to be king and has been used as a puppet by the powerful hungu officials.

So he tries to bring in members of the sarim faction to balance out the power with the hungu faction in the government. But the hungu have the queen mother on their side. She shouldn’t get involved in politics. But she does. And every time the king tries to make a decision that the hungu don’t like, his mother finds out. And he has to back down!

The Ming dynasty also helped him take the throne. So he worries about rewarding them too. And the Ming dynasty have to agree to the choice of crown prince. So when envoys arrive from Ming, everyone gets hot and bothered.

How did the legacy of Yeonsangun affect King Jungjong’s reign?

When King Jungjong comes to the throne, corruption and immoral practices are rife. During Yeonsangun’s reign the people suffered due to heavy taxes needed to pay for the king’s decadent lifestyle.

But King Jungjong lives a frugal life. And in Dae Jang Geum this is dramatised by what the king eats. The king wants to understand his people’s difficult lives. So for one of the tasks in the cooking competition, the king demands simple dishes that ordinary people can eat. Not swanky banquets. The kitchen ladies must make dishes with foods that are normally thrown away – like fish heads and windfall fruit.

But even though he lives a frugal life (as a sage king), palace spending remains high. Why?

In episode 23 Jang Geum becomes a court accountant to find out the reason and realises that even though the king is very frugal, the accounts don’t reflect this. In fact, spending is pretty much the same as it was during the decadent Yeonsangun’s reign. The reason is that the hungu officials and their affiliates around the court are skimming money here and there for themselves for bribes.

Also, his orders to stop bad habits that started during Yeonsangeun’s reign still continue. Greed and corruption continue as well as immoral practices. In episode 34 Jang Geum and the other female medical students face having to become sex slaves for guests at an official event.

Natural Disasters also play a part

Although King Jungjong wants to help his people, nature seems to be against him. Bad weather causes havoc around the country bringing floods and famine. Many people have nothing to eat.

In episode 40 lots of peasants suddenly get sick. So the government is worried a plague has broken out. But actually the people are suffering from food poisoning as they have been eating veggies that have gone off because they have nothing else to eat.

episode 46 The king in Dae Jang Geum King Jungjong is sick

related posts:

Why do some kings have the title JO and others JONG?

What is the status of court ladies in Jewel in the Palace?

 Where is the humble tomb of Yeonsangun?

Who was King Jungjong’s love?

King Jungjong also has problems in love. The drama portrays King Jungjong as a lonely king who lost his true love: his first queen. Since then he has never really loved again.

His current queen (Queen Munjeong) seems aware of this. She criticises him for not loving her son as much as the crown prince (from his first queen.)

In the drama, he starts to have feelings for Jang Geum when he gets to know her as a young doctor. Jang Geum recognises that a lot of his sickness is brought on by stress and she tries to teach him different ways to relax during their morning walks together.

Who was Queen Munjeong?

Queen Munjeong in Jewel in the Palace

There are several femme fatales in historical dramas. The concubine Jang Hee-bin is perhaps the most famous of all. But Queen Munjeong, the king’s second queen, is up there too.

Historically, there were rumours that she was involved in the death of King Injong, the son of King Jungjong’s first queen. King Injong reigned for less than a year, the shortest reign in Joseon history. (we don’t actually see him as king in the drama).

He may have been poisoned.

And in fact, Queen Munjeong had a motive. Perhaps she poisoned King Injong so that her own son could take the throne.

This rumour is dramatised in Dae Jang Geum:

After Jang Geum becomes a doctor (episode 49) Queen Munjeong orders her to ‘get rid of’ the current crown prince. He is sick at the time so this is a great ‘opportunity’. With the crown prince out of the way, her own son can take his place.

But of course, Jang Geum refuses to do this. And the queen backs down and later apologises for trying to make Jang Geum do such a terrible thing!

This idea is explored more deeply in the plot of Mandate of Heaven: The Fugitive of Joseon (KBS2 2013) 

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Death of the King

Episode 43 The king in Dae Jang Geum, King Jungjong is sick.

Dae Jang Geum covers the whole of King Jungjong’s reign from his crowning to his deathbed.

Sickness and old age catch up with him and we see a very lonely character who, perhaps because he is the king, has not been able to let anyone get close to him.

King Injong has been on the throne and died without us seeing him at all! We only see him as a sick child and crown prince when Jang Geum heals him.

Now Queen Munjeong is ruling as Regent as her son is too young to rule himself. And there is a sense that things at court have become more settled as the baddies have been caught and punished. (In the drama anyway!)

So what was King Jungjong’s legacy?

Overall, he is portrayed as a kind man with his heart in the right place. But he has an impossibly big job on his hands trying to fix the corruption from the previous reign of Yeonsangun. And he is weak and easily manipulated by the strong hungu faction and even his own mother.

On top of this, he is a man who never wanted to be king. He is not a particularly happy king and we hardly ever hear him laugh. He spends his time worrying about the hard life of his starving people. Inevitably, all the stresses and strains of the job make him sick. Poor King Jungjong.

To make matters worse, towards the end of his reign,  a very bad harvest and famine bring hardship and affect the king’s reputation. (people believed that natural disasters were a punishment from the gods for the king’s bad decisions.) He was never able to balance the power in his government.

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related posts:

Dae Jang Geum recaps

List of Joseon kings and related historical dramas

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