Jeongjo's first words as king named the father his grandfather had killed
When Yi San took the Joseon throne in 1776, the first thing he told his officials was that he was the son of Crown Prince Sado, put to death by the previous king. Rivals had spent years calling him a prisoner's son. He spent his reign clearing his father's name, and built a fortress to guard the tomb.
Jeongjo was born on 28 October 1752, the second son of Crown Prince Sado and Lady Hyegyŏng. In 1762, after long conflict and years of Sado's mental illness, King Yeongjo had his own son executed. To shield the boy's claim, Yeongjo formally made him the adopted son of a long-dead uncle. It did not silence the powerful Noron faction, some of whom schemed for years to put his half-brothers on the throne instead. His mother's memoirs remain a key window onto those turbulent reigns.
Danger followed him onto the throne. In 1776 conspirators tried to stage a coup and kill him inside the palace, and he personally helped arrest the would-be assassins. Wary of the old royal guard, he began choosing officers by competitive examination and in 1785 created a new bodyguard unit loyal to him. He carried on his grandfather's policy of balancing the factions, deliberately favouring smaller parties to check the Noron.
His reign is remembered as a cultural renaissance. He founded the Kyujanggak royal library to gather talent, opened some official posts to people previously barred by social status, and drew support from reform-minded Silhak scholars such as Chŏng Yagyong. In 1791, told that ordinary people struggled to sell their produce, he ended the capital merchant guilds' monopoly so anyone could trade at market. He moved the court toward Suwon to be near his father's grave and built Hwaseong Fortress there, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During a drought he performed rain rituals, and during measles outbreaks he handed out free medicine.
Not all his choices aged well. His trust in the ambitious aide Hong Guk-yeong let favourites sway state business, and shortly before his death he chose a crown princess from the Andong Kim clan, a match that tipped power toward in-laws for decades. He died suddenly in 1800 at 47, in circumstances still debated, and lies with Queen Hyoui at Geonneung in Hwaseong.
Source: Jeongjo of Joseon
