Top 5 Korean kings In The History Of South Korea!

In this article we will share to you the best 5 most well known and famous korean kings from all of korean history. Make sure you read this article until the end to get the most informations out of it.

Korean history was filled with many great kings and general that win the war and also win the hearts of the people among their time and era.

Here we will only share you the most well known korean kings among korean history. I believe you will already know some of them as they’re really famous all over the world. Alright, let’s dive right to it.

King Sejong The Great

king sejong korean kings

As we know King sejong the great is the one created Hangul and korean language for the very first time. You can find King Sejong statue easily in Seoul as you travel Korea. Other than that, King Sejong is also featured in many games of South korea, just like admiral Yi Sun Shin.

King Sejong known as King Sejong The Great, is considered to be the only and the greatest king and leader figure in south korean history. His knowledge, intelligence and character is totally awesome, his knowledge as a scholar and firm leader puts him on a pedestal and higher than the other korean kings on korean history.

King Sejong was the fourth King of Joseon Dynasty in South korea. King Sejong also known as the founder and the establisher of Confucianism in South Korea. He start establishing Confucianism as their government rules and policy.

Other than that, King Sejong also made a decree against moslem community that has higher status in korea at his time. We are no longer heard of moslem community since then.

King Danjong of Joseon

king danjong korean kings

King Danjong of Joseon succeed his father as a king at very young age which is 12 years old. in 1453, one year after establishing his throne and kingdom, his uncle Sejo led a coup to betray and take the throne from him.

In 1455, King Danjong of Joseon was forced into exile to Yeongwol County and was demote as a prince Nosan. Afterwards, 6 officials try to restore him to his position but was known and end up being executed. 

The story is not ended here, the problem he face is not yet over, as in 1457, he end up murdered at his very young age of 16 and buried as a prince of Joseon. He remains today, as the only king in Korean history to be buried without a royal procession.

King Yeongjo of Joseon

king yeongjo korean kings

King Yeongjo is really well known at his time for standing by and allowing his son to be murdered in front of him. Not exactly something famous that we all want to be known as. King Yeongjo has a psychopath and crazy son who love to rape and murder people named Prince Sado, who was about to be his successor.

As King Yeongjo can’t take any action towards the crown prince, his wife ended up have to ordered that the crazy crown prince to climb and be locked in a large wooden rice chest in the middle of summer in July 1762. His death has been well documented, yet the real reason of his death remain unknown.

Up to this day, conspiracies arise whether he was really a rapist and crazy executor or that was only a story made by political figure to make him a suspect but actually he was a victim of conspiracies among higher political position at that time.

The story of someone being locked in a rice chest didn’t over here as decades later, one of his descendants doing just exactly the same to the other people during summer season.

King Yeongjo is one of the king that really makes confucianism at it’s peak high as he totally belief in it. King Yeongjo also known as someone against roman catholic at that time.

King Taejong of Joseon

king taejong korean kings

King Taejong is the third korean kings of Joseon Dynasty. He reign for a quiet short time for 18 years. However, during those 18 years of reigning as a king, King Taejong consolidated the power of the royal house, built up the military, and increased the income of the kingdom two fold.

He help his father to overthrow Goryeo in order to establish a new dynasty, Joseon. He expected to be appointed as the successor to the throne for he contributed most to the founding of Joseon.

However, his father, Taejo, and prime minister Jeong Do-jeon favored Taejo’s eighth son and Yi Bangwon’s half-brother (second son of Queen Sindeok), Yi Bangseok, as the crown prince.

After the death of the queen (for unrelated matter), he raided the palace and mowed down three of his brothers including the crown prince that was favored by his father. In an effort to calm matters down, his father abdicated and left one of his brothers in the throne.

However, this things ended up angered Taejong and he retaliated with a full out rebellion and it ended up winning for Taejong as he ended up took to the throne himself and become king of Joseon.

As we know from his character, he ended up becoming monarch and establish strong central government during his time.

King Hyegong of Silla

King Hyegong of Silla is the 46th King of Silla in Korean history. Silla is one of the three kingdoms which would eventually combine later on to form South Korea. King Hyegong became king at his age of 8 and spent most of his time in power fighting off rebellions that was  led by higher officials in his kingdom. 

The final rebellion came in 780 AD when the forces made their way into the capital ended up resulted in his death. Get this though, the reasons behind all the rebellions and his death are thought to be due to his girlish and feminine kingly style.  He was believed by people to be either homosexual or bisexual and some even think of him as a transwoman.

Some people thing that King Hyegong is not match to be a King. While there isn’t much to this story, there is a myth about King Hyegong actually born as a girl but then being changed to a boy after his father pleads with a deity.

Korean Kings

So these are the history behind the most well known korean king in History of South Korea. Which one of them is the best king in your opinion? Which one of these kings you knew before? Let us know in the comments sections below!  

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