Solving historical puzzles
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By Kim Ji-myung
Stories of the murder, mysterious death and poisoning of kings and queens inside royal courts are a familiar and intriguing topic of fables and history around the world. And the 519 years of the court history of the Joseon Kingdom is no exception. In many cases, puzzles remain surrounding the truth of these intriguing royal deaths.
Yet, disagreement about the validity of documentary evidence has prevented scholars from coming to a consensus on the real historical facts. I guess, maybe by taking a look at innovative tools used by foreign scholars to solve such historical puzzles, Korean academia may gain greater insight into the truth of the Joseon Kingdom.
Let’s take a look at the case of Prince Sado, who remains an enigma for scholars who disagree on the truth about his life ― and death. Prince Sado was born in 1735, and died in 1762 at the age of 27 by the order of his father, King Yeongjo (1724-1776). The King had his son starved and choked to death inside a grain chest.
However, the real motivation behind his death remains unsolved, giving rise to widely divided guesswork and views. This mystery has inspired many stories and dramas about the prince’s death, each portraying him and his father from entirely different angles.
There are largely two views as to why the king ordered his son to be killed in such an inhumane way, in front of all the court. The first theory puts the blame on the king, arguing that the prince was sacrificed in a partisan power struggle. However, the second theory suggests that that the prince was a psychopathic murderer, who needed to be removed to prevent further bloodshed in the court.
Various records point to the severity of Prince Sado’s murderous tendencies. Two such examples can be found in the Annals of the Joseon Kingdom. A few months before his death, the price killed a concubine who had given birth to his son, of which King Yeongjo had disapproved, telling him, ``You killed the mother of the grandson of the king.”
Additionally, two days after the prince was killed, the ``king ordered the court to send money to those murdered eunuchs,” suggesting that their deaths had been at the hands of the prince. The memoir of Lady Hyegyeong, the prince’s consort, also tells of how the prince showed off the decapitated head of a court official to others.
However, the authenticity of such records is debated by some historians. Very often, new and challenging interpretations of historical evidence are presented by non-orthodox historians, but they are disregarded as a kind of fiction by mainstream academic historians. Yet, these academic historians are criticized as students of colonial Japanese teachers who constructed the initial frame of theories of Korean history from the viewpoint of the occupying imperialists. As a result there is an irreconcilable chasm on almost all issues among groups of historians.
The way history is discussed by Korean historians does not matter to Koreans alone, but also may play a large role in how people from other countries see Korea. In my personal experience, many foreign friends have complained to me that Koreans in general, as well as many Chinese and Japanese, are embarrassingly proud of their history and culture. The implication is that this may lead to a lack of objectivity or truth in historical study.
In this regard, through conversations with British friends in particular, I noticed that they have an enjoyable and enviable coolness toward their history and culture, which allows them to keep an arm’s length of objectivity in facing their past, both good and bad.
By looking at how British historians solved a similarly mysterious case in England, we can see how more objectivity can be brought to historical debates. King George III had in his time been considered insane, much like Prince Sado. However, in 2003 and 2004, a few discoveries led to the truth behind King George III’s "bizarre behavior and wild outbursts,” as explained in detail by the BBC.
When a newly discovered section of hair from the King was tested, it was revealed to contain high levels of arsenic. By looking back at the King’s medical records, it was noted that not only did he have dark red urine, a symptom of a rare blood disorder called porphyria, but he had been taking a medicine to treat his symptoms which had high levels of arsenic in it. Yet, the arsenic served as a trigger for the porphyria, which made his madness even worse as time went on.
Using such science to solve historical puzzles in Korea does not seem impossible as far as kings and princes of the Joseon Kingdom are concerned. All the remains of monarchs and placentas from the births of princes are buried at auspicious sites which remain preserved today.
Analysis of these physical remains may reveal unexpected answers to remaining historical puzzles, not only ending unproductive academic feuds, but changing Korea’s image as an overly-proud and unobjective society when it comes to history and culture.
For your reference, you can read the aforementioned BBC article, entitled ``King George III: Mad or Misunderstood?” follow this link:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3889903.stm
More information about Prince Sado’s story, along with the stories of other similarly "mad” rulers, can be found at
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The writer is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is Heritagekorea21@gmail.com.