This reign saw the division of the city into north, east, south, west and central districts. It also saw the promulgation of the Kyŭng-guk Tă-jŭn or “The Great Laws for Governing the Country.” The system had been inaugurated at the beginning of the dynasty but now for the first time it was definitely[definitely] adopted and written out in full for the guidance of the official classes. It dealt with the minute divisions of communities, each having an overseer.
This same year 1469 the young king died and his mother calling the Ministers together, nominated to the throne Prince Cha-san[Prince Cha-san] the cousin of the deceased king. As he was only thirteen years old the Queen Mother acted as regent during the first years of his reign. His[His] posthumous title is Sŭng-jong Kang-jŭng Tă-wang.
Under the regency of the Queen Mother the first act was the abrogation of the law requiring the people to wear the ho-pă or wooden identification tag, which King T‘ă-jong had promulgated. It had become a mere matter of form and was found quite useless for the purpose intended, namely a preventative against the evasion of the taxes.
This reign was marked by increased activity in the field of foreign relations. First an envoy came from Quelpart with a gift of pearls. Another came from the town of Ku-ju Si-so in the province of Kwan-sŭ (Japan) and still another, Chöng Sŭng-hong from the town of Wŭn-jung on the islands of Tsushima. One embassy from the Liu Kiu Islands came with a gift of monkeys. The Japanese on the island of Sal-ma sent an envoy who presented gifts of red pepper, incense and white silk. He asked for Buddhist books but was refused. Envoys came also from the northern tribes swearing allegiance to Cho-săn[Cho-săn].
In 1472 all the sorceresses, fortune-tellers and Buddhist monks were driven from Seoul and[and] forbidden to enter it again. In the following year an envoy arrived from Japan saying “When Se-jo was king I painted his portrait and carried it to Japan, but at night a great light would stream from the picture’s face. So I brought it back and have left it at Che-p‘o in Chŭl-la Province.” The king immediately sent word to the governor to build an altar and burn the picture thereon, as it had been defiled by being carried to Japan.
Special attention was given by King Sŭng-jong to the matter of government examinations. He sent to the provinces and commanded the governors to hold preliminary examinations and to send the successful men up to Seoul to attend the grand examinations held on the third day of the third moon and the ninth of the ninth moon. Three men were to be sent up from each of the provinces except Kyŭng-sang, Chŭl-la and Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng Provinces from which five each were allowed to come. This shows that then as today the largest part of the population of Korea was in the south.
An important change was effected in the matter of criminal procedure. The king commanded that all men of scholarly rank who offended against the laws should be arraigned not before the common tribunal of justice but before the college of scholars. Thus another barrier was built up between the common people and the nobility. King Sŭng-jong was also a patron of letters, for besides publishing a work called Che-wang Myŭng-gan or “The King’s clear Mirror,” and the O-ye-eui or “Five Rules of Conduct,” he[Conduct,” he] also built a library and collected in it all the different books that could be found. He was the determined foe of Buddhism and, having driven out the monks, he now proceeded against the Buddhist convents in Seoul. He broke them up and made them remove to the country. There were twenty-three of these convents in Seoul at the time.
The Queen Mother retired from the regency in 1477 and the king, assuming his full authority, continued the work of demolishing Buddhistic influence. He sequestered a monastery at Yong-san and made a school of it, after throwing out the image of Buddha. He seems to have been also a moral reformer, for he made a law against dancing-girls and commanded that boys be taught to dance and to take the place of those unfortunate women. It had been the custom on the king’s birth-day to have prayers offered in Buddhist temples for the safety and peace of the kingdom, but now this was abrogated, for the king said, “What does Buddha know? It is a worthless custom and must be stopped.” More than this, he compelled the monks in the country to refund to a man large sums of money which had been paid for prayers which were intended to ward off harm from the man’s son. The boy died and the father sued the monks for breach of contract, and the king upheld the claim.
In 1478 the queen died and a concubine named Yun was raised to the position of royal consort. This was destined to bring dire disaster to the realm. She was a woman of jealous disposition and violent temper and her hatred of the other concubines led her into trouble. On one occasion her passions overcame her and in an angry altercation with the king she scratched his face severely. The king desired to treat her offense leniently but he was overruled by the officials and the woman was driven from the palace. She had one son who is commonly known by his posthumous title Prince Yŭn-san. When the disgraced woman was dying she charged this son to avenge her disgrace, when he should come to the throne; for he was the heir apparent.
The reign saw many reforms of a social character. It was decreed that grave-plots must not be allowed to interfere with the making of fields. This indicates that during the years of prosperity the population had been rapidly increasing and that it was found necessary to increase the area of arable land in like proportion. The people were reaping the reward of many years of peace and good government. Nothing could show more plainly the relation between King Sŭng-jong and the people than the custom he inaugurated of helping those to marry who were too poor to do so.