It will be noticed that when his reign began in 1675 the Nam-in party was in power with Hŭ Jŭk at its head. The strife over Song Si-ryŭl had resulted in his banishment to Wŭn-san. He was the Bismarck of Korea in that when his master died the aged councillor found in the son the same gratitude that the Iron Chancellor did. It would be an endless as well as a fruitless task to describe the party fights that took place. It will be enough to say that the reign was one long fight from beginning to end. During the early part of the reign, in 1677, a complete census of the country was made. It was probably the conclusion of work begun by the former king. It was found that in the whole country there were 1,234,512 houses, containing 4,703,505 people.
Some excitement was caused when it was found that Chinese histories were claiming that Prince Kwang-hă was a good man, and that In-jo Tă-wang had revolted against him. After a sharp party fight the king decided to send an envoy and request the emperor to have the mistake corrected.
In 1678 the Japanese again insisted that their quarters in Fusan be enlarged. Consent was given to move the settlement seven li to the south, to the town of Cho-hyang. This is the present site of the town of Fusan. From east to west its length was 372 tsubo and 4 feet. From north to south it was 256 tsubo. Two official reception halls were built, one called the East Hall and the other the West Hall. The houses were all built by Japanese carpenters from Tsushima and the work covered a period of three years. The Korean government gave 9000 bags of rice and 6000 ounces of silver to cover the expense, and undertook to keep the place in repair. That this colony was kept up in good style is shown by the fact that Korea made repairs on these buildings in 1721, 1724, 1748, 1765, 1780, 1786, 1794, 1801, 1813, 1822, 1831, 1836, 1850, 1853, 1857, 1864.
The most trivial matters were made occasions for party fights. A storm occurred on a day when the king was to go out, and the No-ron party claimed that it was a dispensation of providence to spoil a plot of the Nam-ins to revolt and seize the reins of power. Whoever took a firm position on any point found later that it became the basis for an accusation and a cause for death. So it was with the Prime Minister Hŭ Jŭk who advised the building of a fortress near Song-do. This later caused his death. The courtiers accused each other in the royal presence about the most trivial matters, such as quarrels between their concubines, the cutting of fuel timber, the profligacy of the Prime Minister’s son, and such like, while great matters of state seem to have taken care of themselves.
And so we arrive at the year 1680. The Nam-in are still in full power and Hŭ Jŭk is still master of the situation. But see how small a thing accomplishes his downfall. The day arrived for ancestral worship in Hŭ Jŭk’s house, but it was very rainy. The king thoughtfully ordered the eunuchs to get out the palace awning of oiled paper and carry it to the Minister’s house and let him use it during the ceremony. The eunuch replied that Hŭ Jŭk had already taken it. Instantly the king’s kindly feeling was changed to anger and hatred by the insolence of the Minister in thus appropriating the awning. He sent a messenger and discovered that a crowd of the adherents of the Nam-in party had congregated at Hŭ Jŭk’s house. They were immediately denounced as traitors. The generals were called and the house was surrounded with troops. All the leading men in the Nam-in party were killed on the spot. The names of the killed are Hŭ Jŭk, Hŭ Kyŭn, Yu Hyŭk-yŭn, Yi Wŭn-jŭng, O Chŭng-ch’ang, Yi T’ă-sö, Chöng Wŭn-no, Kang Man-ch’ŭl, Yi Wŭn-sŭng and Yun Hyu. The king’s two cousins, Princes Pok-sun and Pak-pyŭn, and eight others were banished. The No-ron party were then called back to power. The king brought back from exile the great Song Si ryŭl and also Kim Su-han, whom he made Prime Minister. In twenty-four hours a trusted minister and party were totally overthrown and every place was filled with a member of the opposition. The next few months were spent in hunting down the remaining leaders of the Nam-in party and securing their execution. Some were hung, some poisoned and some decapitated. One instance of this will suffice. Hŭ Să and Hŭ Yŭng, two influential men lived at Yong-san. There was no valid charge against them, so Kim Sŭk-ju told the king he would find one. To this end he sent one Kim Whan-go to Yong-san and gave him money to build a fine house adjoining that of the prospective victims. Before long he had them involved in treasonable plans and as soon as enough evidence was collected the two men were seized and put to death, and with them a large number of their immediate friends. Man-hunting was not so much a public necessity as a private pastime.
The newly installed general-in-chief found great abuses in the army and thousands of names on the rolls, of men long since dead. Taxes were being collected in an utterly lawless way. These abuses were done away and others probably as bad or worse took their places, for as power meant spoils the newly victorious party was not likely to forego any of its privileges. We are borne out in this supposition by the fact that about this time the king began the custom of making an annual visit to the temple of heaven to pray for good crops. This indicates that the people were being badly governed. He paid considerable attention to the navy and appointed An-ju, Suk-ch‘ŭn, Sun-an, Yöng-yu, Cheung-san, P’yŭng-yang, Yong-yang, Kang sö, Sam-wha, Ham-jong and No-gang in P‘yŭng-an Province and Chang-nyŭn, Eun-yul, P‘ung-ch‘ŭn, Hŭ-sa and An-ak in Whang-hă Province to be naval stations. It was only at this late date that the second king of the dynasty received the posthumous title of Chöng-jong Tă-wang.
Attention was paid to the border forts along the Yalu, expenses were curtailed and garrisons were supported out of the land tax of the adjoining districts. It was a time of many severe calamities. A fire in P’yŭng-yang burned 344 houses and a flood in Ham-gyŭng Province destroyed 906 more with great loss of life. Song Si-ryŭl had not forgotten his old master, now some ten years dead, and he suggested to the king that Hyo-jong Tă-wang be honored with the Se-sil, that is, that his tablet be not removed from the ancestral temple after the fourth generation, as was customary, but should remain there permanently. It caused a great commotion, but the aged minister carried the day. It is true that few monarchs of the line better deserved that honor than did Hyo-jong Tă-wang.
The year 1684 beheld a sort of “reign of terror.” It arose in the following manner. A messenger from the Japanese on Tsushima came post haste announcing that a large band of Chinese pirates was about to land on Korean soil. A panic followed in Seoul and thousands fled precipitately to the country. Bands of thieves took advantage of the confusion to commit many lawless acts. They formed a sort of secret society and their principles were anarchistic. They made it an object to raid houses where money was to be found. They seized ladies as they were passing along the streets in covered chairs, and violated them. They seized officials whom they hated, and put them to death. The government found one of their books and in it was written their oath of membership. Three cardinal principles were set forth; (1) To kill as many noblemen as possible, (2) To violate as many women as possible, (3) To steal as much personal property as possible. Seven men who had carried away and ravished a widow of Kong-ju were caught and decapitated. One of them was her own cousin and he belonged to the so-called “knife gang.” After a time the disturbance was suppressed.
One incident of a peculiarly Korean character deserves mention. Some money was stolen from the strong room of a fortress near Song-do. The store-house keeper was suspected but there was no evidence. So the commandant secretly questioned the keeper’s little son and found that the suspicion was correct. The keeper was punished but the commandant was also cashiered from the fact that he had induced a boy to incriminate his own father.
The native records say that in the twelfth year of this sovereign, in 1686, Roman Catholicism entered Korea for the first time. Certain foreigners entered the country and preached the new doctrine. We are not told of what nationality these men were but it was long before any European attempted to enter Korea. We are told that the new doctrine spread rapidly and that some of the highest officials asked the king to send the foreigners out of the country. Whether this was done cannot now be learned. Nothing is said of this in the French work on the Roman Catholic Mission in Korea, and it is somewhat difficult to understand. It would hardly be found in the records, however, were there not some ground for the statement.