Five Army Camps completed
King Sukjong set up the Geumwiyeong, completing the system of Five Army Camps together with the Hullyeon Dogam, Eoyeongcheong, Chongyungcheong and Sueocheong.
After the Hullyeon Dogam, founded during the Imjin War, new army camps were created one after another under King Injo in response to crises at home and abroad: the Eoyeongcheong (1623) right after Injo’s coup, the Chongyungcheong guarding the Gyeonggi area after Yi Gwal’s Rebellion (1624), and the Sueocheong, set up in 1626 when Namhansanseong was rebuilt, to hold that fortress. Under Hyojong the Eoyeongcheong grew into the core of the planned northern expedition. In 1682 Sukjong created the Geumwiyeong to guard the capital, completing the Five Army Camps.
The camps were not designed as a whole but created as needs arose. The Hullyeon Dogam was made up of paid soldiers, the Eoyeongcheong and Geumwiyeong mainly of rotating troops from the provinces, and the Chongyungcheong and Sueocheong of Gyeonggi sogogun. The camps became the military base of the factions, which vied to control them, and Jeongjo created the Jangyongyeong (1793) to counter them.
In the same period the Border Defence Council (Bibyeonsa) — set up temporarily during the Three Ports Revolt and made permanent after the Eulmyo Incident (1555) — became through the wars the highest organ handling not only military matters but state affairs in general. The State Council and Six Ministries weakened accordingly, and the Bibyeonsa lasted until the Heungseon Daewongun merged it into the State Council.
