Gapja Literati Purge

Yeonsangun killed many officials linked to the death of his mother, the deposed Queen Yun; his tyranny led to his overthrow two years later.

Seongjong’s queen, Lady Yun, was deposed in 1479 and forced to take poison in 1482. Told the full story by Im Sa-hong and others, Yeonsangun in 1504 punished everyone connected — ministers and Sarim alike who had taken part in, or failed to stop, the decision. Kim Goeng-pil and others were killed, and the corpses of Han Myeong-hoe and Jeong Yeo-chang were exhumed and mutilated. This time the old guard suffered heavily too. Yeonsangun went on to abolish the royal lectures and the Office of the Censor-General and, over anonymous letters written in Hangul, banned its use.