Westerners (Korea)
The Westerners was a political faction that dominated Korea in the 17th century. In 1575, the Sarim split into the Easterners and Westerners. The Westerners remained the main contender of the Easterners in the Seonjo age.
The Westerners lost power in the later years of the Seonjo age. The Easterners and the factions that split from the Easterners had power throughout the last decade of the Seonjo age and the entirety of the Gwanghaegun age. However, the Westerners ousted Gwanghaegun from power in 1623, making Prince Neungyang king and causing the Westerners to regain power, which they had lost for a generation.
The Westerners had power for half a century, from 1623 to 1674, in which they were relatively unified. The era also led to the appearance of powerful Westerner politicians such as Song Si-yŏl, Song Chun-gil, and Kim Su-hang, of which Song Si-yŏl was the most influential. the Yesong debate of the Hyeonjong era finally toppled the Westerner government, and a Southerner government ruled for six years, until 1680.
The Westerners regained power in 1680 with the Gyeongsin Hwanguk. However, there was a dispute between the younger Westerners and the older Westerners in 1682 on whether Kim Ik-hun, one of the figures who had brought down the Southerners in 1680, should be punished. The younger Westerners thought that Kim should be punished, while the older Westerners did not. When Song Si-yŏl took the side of the older Westerners in 1683, the younger Westerners were infuriated at Song. Those who wanted Kim to be punished became known as the Soron, while those who continued to follow Song became the Noron. With the Hoeni Dispute in 1684 between the Noron scholar Song Si-yŏl and the Soron scholar Yun Jeung, the Westerners were divided forever.
History
Division from Sarim
After the death of Queen Munjeong and her brother Yun Wŏnhyŏng in the late Myeongjong period, the Sarim faction, which had endured four literary purges throughout the sixteenth century, came to power as the dominant political faction. At the time, the Sarim were united as a single faction.In 1574, the official Kim Hyowŏn was nominated for the position of Ijo Jeongrang, which had the privilege of promoting scholar-officials, including the next Ijo Jeongrang. However, Sim Ŭigyŏm, the brother of Queen Insun, opposed Kim's promotion on the grounds that Kim had often bribed Yun Wŏnhyŏng, who massacred many of the Sarim in 1545. Despite Sim's protests, Kim was promoted.
The next year, Sim Chung-gyeom, the brother of Sim Ŭigyŏm, was nominated for the next Ijo Jeongrang. However, Kim Hyowŏn, who had the right to appoint his successors, claimed that Sim was unsuitable for the position because he was the brother of Queen Insun. Yi Pal became the next Ijo Jeongrang.
The incident resulted in a large political debate on whether Kim Hyowŏn's actions were just, titled the Eulhae Dangron. Supporters of Kim included Kim Uong, Yu Sŏngnyong, Hŏ Yŏp, Yi Sanhae, Yi Pal, Chŏng Chiyŏn, U Sŏngjŏn, and Chŏng Yugil, while major supporters of Sim were Chŏng Ch'ŏl, Yun Tusu, Pak Sun, Kim Kyehwi, Ku Samaeng, Hong Sŏngmin, and Sin Hŭngsi. The people who took the side of Kim became known as 'Easterners', because Kim's house was in Geoncheondong to the east of Seoul, while the supporters of Sim, who lived in Jeongreungbang to the west of Seoul, became known as 'Westerners'. The controversy forever split the united Sarim into two opposing parties. The controversy forever split the united Sarim into two opposing parties.
The Westerners of 1575 were the older members of the Sarim, who had taken office before the Sarim took power. Therefore, they tended to be more conservative, and they were more contemptuous of Easterner ideologues such as Cho Sik or Yi Hwang. The Westerners were by far the minority within government.
Dispute with the Easterners and Northerners
In the 1570s, the conflict between the Easterners and Westerners intensified, despite efforts by people such as Yi I or Sŏng Hon to reconcile the hostile groups together. However, because both Yi and Sŏng attempted to be completely neutral towards both parties despite the Easterners being much larger, the Easterners believed that they were biased towards the Westerners.In 1575, Yi I was an advisor to Seonjo, and advised the king to send both Kim Hyowŏn and Sim Ŭigyŏm as officials in faraway counties. Seonjo followed Yi's advice and sent Kim as the governor of Buryeong, a small town approximately 650 kilometers northeast of Seoul, whereas Sim was made the governor of Kaesong, a major city 70 kilometers northwest of Seoul. This angered the Easterners, as it seemed as if Seonjo was taking Sim's side. Thus to reconcile the Easterners, Yi I claimed Kim had a serious disease, unsuitable as a governor of the far north. Seonjo then moved Kim as a governor of Samcheok, a town slightly larger than Buryeong, 150 kilometers to the east of Seoul.
However, the Easterners, who were by far the majority in court, were not pleased that Yi I was apparently neutral in the conflict, when they believed that Sim Ŭigyŏm had clearly wronged. However, Yi I believed that both Kim and Sim had done both good and bad things, and thus that being neutral was the most logical position. Yi I therefore believed that both sides were equal in their deeds and misdeeds.
Despite his beliefs, Yi I began to worry that his attempts at reconciliation were meaningless because the Easterners still saw him as biased towards the Westerners. To do so, he wrote an advice for the king to fire Sim Ŭigyŏm and gave it to the Easterner Chŏng Inhong, asking him to not change anything in the advice. However, Chŏng added the single sentence "gathers other officials to create a faction" in the list of Sim's misdeeds in the advice. When Seonjo asked Chŏng who "the other officials" were, Chŏng replied that it was Chŏng Ch'ŏl and the Yun Tusu and Yun Kŭnsu brothers, who were at the time the sole Westerners in court. Yi I was angered that Chŏng had changed the words of his advice, forcing Chŏng to revoke his former words by saying that though Chŏng Ch'ŏl had done much wrong, he did not create a faction. He then retired to his hometown, causing the Easterners to be furious at Yi I. Both Yi I and Chŏng Ch'ŏl were forced to step down, while Sim Ŭigyŏm stayed in court. Despite Yi's later return, the outnumbered Westerners were powerless to stop the Easterners, leading to an Easterner government until 1589.
In October 1589, the Westerners Han Chun, Pak Ch'unggan, Yi Ch'uk, and Han Ŭngin claimed that the Easterner scholar Chŏng Yŏrip was secretly plotting to be king himself. Chŏng fled to the nearby Juk Island without destroying his letters or books and performed suicide. The supposed treason of Chŏng opened a chance for the Westerners to regain their power. Seonjo made the Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl oversee the investigation of the treason, and the Westerners, who had lost power for a decade, were vengeful. The Yŏngŭijŏng of the time, No Susin, was first sentenced to death, but was finally exiled due to his high status. The Ueuijeong,
, was exiled due to their connections with Chŏng Yŏrip.
One of the most influential Easterners, Yi Pal, died under torture, as did his brothers. Chŏng Kaech'ŏng, the adopted son of the Westerner minister Pak Sun, was also exiled because he had betrayed his adopted father to side with the Easterners. A highly controversial death was that of Ch'oe Yŏnggyŏng. Chŏng Yŏrip claimed the existence of an entity named 'Kil Sambong', who to lead the rebellion. Despite the testimonies about 'Kil Sambong' not being matched on crucial topics like age, height, or appearance, the search for him continued. One of the Westerner advisers claimed that Ch'oe Yŏnggyŏng, an Easterner scholar from Honam, was in fact the 'Kil Sambong'. Ch'oe died under torture in 1590. Killing a thousand Easterners, more than the four literary purges combined, the purge furthered the distance of the two factions as eternal enemies.
However, the new Westerner government did not last for long. In 1590, the Easterners Yi Sanhae and Yu Sŏngnyong and the Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl were the highest officials, the Jeongseung. At the time, Seonjo had not appointed a crown prince, although he was already nearing forty and had many sons, of whom the eldest was Prince Imhae. However, Imhae, in contrast to the younger Prince Gwanghae, was a well-known troublemaker, causing most of the officials to believe that Gwanghae should be the Crown Prince.
However, Yi Sanhae knew that Seonjo was much closer to Prince Sinseong than to either Imhae or Gwanghae. Yi also knew that both Chŏng Ch'ŏl and Yu Sŏngnyong wanted Gwanghae as crown prince, and that Yu was more cautious. Yi Sanhae so decided to bring down Chŏng Ch'ŏl and the Westerners by telling Lady In, Prince Sinseong's mother, that Chŏng was planning to kill her and Sinseong after he had made Gwanghae the Crown Prince.
Meanwhile, the Easterners Yu Sŏngnyong, Yi Sanhae, and the Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl promised each other that they would ask Seonjo to make Gwanghae Crown Prince together. However, Yi did not appear at the promised date. The less-cautious Chŏng Ch'ŏl was the first to advise Seonjo to make Gwanghae Crown Prince, and Seonjo was infuriated, believing that the story told by Lady In was true. Seonjo exiled Chŏng Ch'ŏl and other Westerners recreating an Easterner government. Around this time, the Easterners split into two, the Southerners and the Northerners.
In 1592, the Japan invaded Korea with 200,000 soldiers as a result of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempt to conquer the Ming Dynasty. Because the Northerner-Southerner government had failed to prepare for the war, the Westerners became powerful again, though not as powerful as in the purge of Chŏng Yŏrip. The Westerners attacked Yi Sanhae for claiming that the king Seonjo should abandon the capital, and Yi was fired. The crisis of the Japanese invasion, however, caused a cessation of political feuds for a time.
With the temporary retreat of the Japanese army in 1595, political feuds renewed. This time, the Northerners claimed that Chŏng Ch'ŏl had killed Ch'oe Yŏnggyŏng for private reasons during the purge of Chŏng Yŏrip, and that Sŏng Hon did not save Ch'oe despite Sŏng's ability to do so. The Westerners refuted that Chŏng attempted to save Ch'oe. Seonjo took the Northerners' side, saying 'The evil Chŏng Ch'ŏl and the sly Sŏng Hon killed my just minister". The feud between the Westerners and the Northerners had ended with a Northerner victory.
With the Westerners gone, the Northerners removed the Southerners from the court and created a completely Northerner government in 1598. In 1599, the Northerners divided into the Lesser Northerners and the Greater Northerners. While the two Northerner factions feuded, the Westerner remnants had little power.
In 1611, the Greater Northerner Chŏng Inhong ferociously attacked the scholars Yi Hwang and Yi Ŏnjŏk. Some Westerners refuted Chŏng's attack, but refutations against Chŏng were also done by the Southerners and Lesser Northerners.