Yngjo was born on October 31, 1694, he was the fourth son of King Sukchong (reigned 1674 - 1720) and the younger half brother of King Kyngjong (1720 - 1724). The formal name of Yngjo was Yi Kum; in the years before acceding to the throne he was known as Prince Yning. His first posthumous name was Yngjong, but this was changed to Yngjo in 1889.
Yngjo became king on October 16, 1724, five days after Kyngjong's suspiciously sudden death.
The Noron succeeded in having Yngjo designated heir and prince regent.
Once on the throne, Yngjo was determined to end the Noron-Soron struggle.
He, however, grew increasingly cool toward the Soron, and they soon lapsed into a dormant, if still live, political force.
He was arbitrary and capricious in many of his decisions, and he was given to sudden outbursts of uncontrollable rage.
Certainly his terrible unpredictability was a factor in the control in which he constantly held his officials.
His vanity knew no bounds.
But in his calmer moments he was solicitous of his officials and generous with subordinates, and he showed a genuine concern for the welfare of the common people.
He was strict and firm in his decisions, worked long and hard at his duties, and was always intimately familiar with governmental affairs.
His first son, Prince Hyojang, had died in 1728.
But eventually something went wrong in their relationship; the early hope turned into bitterness and hatred and ended, in 1762, in filicide.
The reasons are unclear, mostly as a result of the expurgation of historical records.
But judging from what has survived, and other clues scattered through unofficial sources, it is apparent that officials sympathetic to the Soron cause had attached themselves to the crown prince.
Through the 17506 the political tension grew.
Yngjo frequently reprimanded his son for both his personal behavior and his princely decisions.
The final crisis in the affair began in October 1761.
To the end Sado denied all the charges.
On July 4 Yngjo demanded Sado's suicide.
Sado attempted to hang himself but was courageously released from the rope by his own loyal retainers.
Yngjo next stripped Sado of his rank and offices, decreed him a commoner, and locked him in a box, where he died eight days later from starvation.
The bizarre method of execution, strange even in consideration of the traditional Korean prohibition against the shedding of royal blood, and the tardy and oddly sudden remorse combine to suggest Yngjo's disturbed personality.
Yngjo lived for nearly 14 years after Sado's death, and some of his most famous enactments date from this period.
Further Reading There is no biography of Yngjo in English.
The events of his reign can be perused in survey histories such as Takashi Hatada, A History of Korea, translated and edited by Warren W. Smith and Benjamin H. Hazard (1969), and Woo-keun Han, The History of Korea, translated by Kyung-sik Lee and edited by Grafton Mintz (1970).
Yngjo was twice married.
