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PoliticsFrom the 10th month of 1589(Lunar)

Jeong Yeo-rip Treason Case and the Gichuk Purge

Accused of plotting rebellion, the Easterner Jeong Yeo-rip took his own life, and the purge led by the Westerner Jeong Cheol struck down some thousand Easterners.

Jeong Yeo-rip of Jeonju had organized the Daedong society to train in arms; in the tenth month of 1589 he was denounced for treason, fled to Jukdo in Jinan and killed himself. Under Jeong Cheol many Easterners, Yi Bal among them, were executed or exiled.

This purge and the 1591 dispute over naming a crown prince split the Easterners into the moderate Southerners and the hard-line Northerners.

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States and rulers at the time
Joseon — Seonjo

People

  • King Seonjo1552 – 1608

    monarch · Fourteenth king of Joseon; fled to Uiju and asked Ming for help

  • Jeong Yeo-rip1589

    related figure · Easterner from Jeonju who formed the Daedonggye; accused of treason, he killed himself, setting off the purge of 1589

  • Jeong Cheol (Songgang)1536 – 1593

    leader · Master of gasa verse who wrote the Gwandong byeolgok and Samiingok; as a Westerner he ran the Jeong Yeo-rip treason inquiry

Before and after

Earlier
1575 Yi I’s Seonghak jipyo
Later
1592 Nanjung Ilgi (War Diary of Yi Sun-sin)

Themes that include this event

  • Factional Politics in Joseon1498 – 1863

    From the literati purges to in-law government — how Sarim factions moved from coexistence and checks to purges and one-faction rule, then through Tangpyeong to the dominance of a few clans

  • JeonjuAD 685 – 1894

    From Wansanju, capital of Later Baekje, to the ancestral seat of the Joseon royal house — where the Annals were saved and the Donghak army took the fortress