Injo of Joseon

Injo (Korean: 인조; Hanja: 仁祖; 7 December 1595 – 17 June 1649), personal name Yi Jong (이종; 李倧), was the 16th monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He was a grandson of King Seonjo and the eldest son of Prince Jeongwon. He ascended to the throne after leading a coup d'état against his uncle, Gwanghaegun, in 1623. Today, Injo is considered a weak and incompetent king, as during his reign the country experienced Yi Gwal's Rebellion, the Later Jin invasion, the Qing invasion, and an economic recession, while the government was corrupt and ineffective.

King Injo was born in 1595 as a son of Prince Jeongwon, whose father was the ruling monarch King Seonjo. In 1607, Prince Jeongwon's son was given the title, Lord Neungyang (綾陽都正, 능양도정) and later Prince Neungyang (綾陽君, 능양군); and lived as a royal family member, unsupported by any political factions that were in control of Korean politics at the time.

In 1608, King Seonjo fell sick and died, and his son, Gwanghaegun, succeeded him to the throne. At the time, the government was divided by various political factions and the liberal Easterner political faction came out strong after the Japanese invasions of 1582–1598, as they fought most actively against the Japanese. The Eastern faction split during the last days of King Seonjo into the Northerner and Southerner political factions. The Northern faction wanted radical reform, while the Southerner faction supported more moderate measures. At the time of Seonjo's death, the Northern faction, which gained control of the government at the time, was divided into left-wing Greater Northerners and more moderate Lesser Northerners. As Gwanghaegun inherited the throne, the Greater Northern political faction, which supported him as heir to the crown, became the major political faction in the royal court. Meanwhile, the conservative Westerner political faction remained a minor player, unable to gain power; however many members of the Westerner faction continued to look for opportunities to return to politics as the ruling faction.

Although King Gwanghaegun was an outstanding administrator and great diplomat, he was largely unsupported by many politicians, scholars, and aristocrats because he was not the first-born and he was born of a concubine. Greater Northerners tried to stomp out those opinions, suppressing Lesser Northerners and killing Prince Imhae, the oldest son of Seonjo, and Grand Prince Yeongchang, the queen's son. It was not Gwanghaegun's plan to keep his throne; and in fact, he actually tried to bring minor factions into the government, but was blocked by opposition from members of the Greater Northerners, such as Chŏng Inhong and Yi Ich'ŏm. The actions made Gwanghaegun even more unpopular among wealthy aristocrats, and they finally began plotting against him.

In 1623, members of the ultra-conservative Westerners, Kim Chajŏm, Kim Ryu, Yi Kwi and Yi Kwal, launched a coup that resulted in the dethroning of Gwanghaegun, who was sent into exile on Jeju Island. Chŏng Inhong and Yi Ich'ŏm were killed, and this was followed suddenly by the Westerners replacing the Greater Northerners as the ruling political faction. The Westerners brought Injo to the palace and crowned him as the new King of Joseon. Although Injo was king, he did not have any authority since almost all of the power was held by the Westerners that had dethroned Gwanghaegun.

Yi Kwal thought he was mistreated and received too small a reward for his role in the coup. In 1624, he rebelled against Injo after being sent to the Northern front as military commander of Pyongyang to fight against the expanding Manchus, while other significant leaders of the coup were rewarded with positions in the King's court. Yi Kwal led 12,000 troops, including 100 Japanese (who defected to Joseon during Japanese invasions of Korea), to the capital, Hansŏng, where Yi Kwal defeated a regular army under the command of General Chang Man [ko] and surrounded Hansŏng. Injo fled to Gongju, and Hansŏng fell into the hands of the rebels.

On February 11, 1624, Yi Kwal enthroned Prince Heungan (興安君, 흥안군) as the new King. However, General Chang Man soon returned with another regiment and defeated Yi's forces. The Korean army recaptured the capital soon after, and Yi was murdered by his bodyguard, ending the rebellion. Even though Injo kept his throne, the uprising displayed the weaknesses of royal authority while asserting the superiority of the aristocrats, who had gained even more power by fighting against the rebellion. The economy, which was experiencing a slight recovery from Gwanghaegun's reconstruction, was again ruined, and Korea would remain in a poor economic state for a few centuries.

King Gwanghaegun, who was considered a wise diplomat, kept his neutral policy between the Ming dynasty, which was Joseon's traditional ally, and the growing Jurchens (later Manchus and Qing dynasty). However, following the fall of Gwanghaegun, conservative Westerners took a hard-line policy toward the Jurchen-led Later Jin dynasty, keeping their alliance with Ming dynasty. The Later Jin, who had up until that time remained mostly friendly to Joseon, began to regard Joseon as an enemy. Han Yun, who participated in the rebellion of Yi Kwal, fled to Manchuria and urged the Later Jin ruler Nurhaci to attack Joseon; thus the friendly relationship between the Later Jin and Joseon ended.