Two envoys, two verdicts: how Korea's court talked itself out of preparing for war
In the early 1590s King Seonjo of Joseon sent two envoys to Japan to judge whether Toyotomi Hideyoshi planned an invasion. One reported huge armies massing. The other, from the rival faction, said the troops were meant for keeping order at home. The court believed the second, and Korea was caught unready.
Seonjo came to the throne as a teenager in 1567, crowned by decision of the court after his uncle King Myeongjong died without an heir. His early years looked promising. He brought respected Confucian scholars such as Yi Hwang and Yi I into government, rehabilitated scholars executed in earlier purges and reshaped the civil service exam to weigh politics and history alongside literature. A brief period of peace followed.
The trouble came from his own officials. Two leading figures, the conservative Shim Eui-gyeom and the reformer Kim Hyowon, drew rival followings, and because Shim's supporters lived on the west side of the capital and Kim's on the east, they became known as the Westerners and Easterners. This rivalry kept splitting into ever smaller factions and shaped Korean politics for some 200 years, later contributing to the state's collapse. When Yi I urged the king to enlarge the army against possible Japanese and Jurchen attacks, both camps rejected the advice and the army was shrunk further.
The Easterners dominated when the envoys returned, so the Westerner Hwang Yun-gil's warning was dismissed. In 1591 Hideyoshi asked for passage through Korea to attack China; Seonjo refused, alerted Beijing and hurriedly built coastal forts. On 13 April 1592, 700 Japanese ships carrying 18,700 troops landed, the opening of the Imjin War, and Korean land forces lost battle after battle.
Rescue came from the sea and from allies. Admiral Yi Sun-sin repeatedly beat the Japanese fleet and cut supply lines, Ming forces arrived at Seonjo's request, and General Gwon Yul won a crucial victory at Hangju. A second invasion in 1597 met better-prepared defenders, including Yi Sun-sin's famous win at Myeongnyang with just 13 ships. The land was left devastated and hungry, and Seonjo, who died in 1608, is remembered chiefly for the discord of his reign.
Source: Seonjo of Joseon
