Death of Crown Prince Sado
Yeongjo deposed the crown prince and locked him in a rice chest in front of Munjeongjeon Hall at Changgyeonggung; Prince Sado died eight days later.
Sadopaul · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Regent for his father from 1749, the crown prince clashed often with Yeongjo, and the rivalry of the Noron and Soron factions deepened the rift. After Na Gyeong-eon denounced the prince’s misconduct in 1762, Yeongjo deposed him on the 13th day of the intercalary 5th month and shut him in a rice chest. After his death Yeongjo gave him the name Sado, “thinking with grief”.
The affair split officials into the Sipa, who sympathised with the prince, and the Byeokpa, who backed the king. On his accession his son Jeongjo declared, “I am the son of Crown Prince Sado,” and later moved his father’s tomb to Suwon. Sado’s wife, Lady Hyegyeong, recorded the events in her memoir Hanjungnok.
