Political factions during the Joseon dynasty

The Bungdang refers to political factionalism that was characteristic of middle and late Joseon. Throughout the dynasty, various regional and ideological factions struggled for dominance in the political system.

During the 15th and 16th century, tensions between the Hungu faction in the capital and the Yeongnam-based Sarim faction dominated national politics, culminating in a series of four bloody purges between 1498 and 1545, in which the Sarim was persecuted by the Hungu. Following these setbacks, the Sarim faction withdrew to rural provinces where they maintained their power base and ideological continuity through seowon (private institutions which combined the functions of a Confucian shrine and a preparatory academy for the civil service examinations) and hyangyak (a system of social contract that gave local autonomy to villages). Eventually, the Hungu faction declined without an ideological successor while the Sarim faction emerged as the dominant faction during the reign of Seonjo.

In the late 16th century, a nationwide split occurred within the Sarim between the Western faction (Seoin) and Eastern faction (Dongin), composed mainly of the younger generation. Political divisions intensified even further as the Easterners in turn split between the hard-line Northern faction (Bukin) and the moderate Southern faction (Namin), and the Westerners split between the Old Learning (Noron) and the Young Learning (Soron). These four factions are sometimes known as sasaek ("four colors"). The Northerners later split into the Greater Northern and Lesser Northern factions, with the Great Northerners further splitting into three other factions. The faction names often derived from the relative location of their leader's house.

These divisions grew out of allegiance to different philosophical schools and regional differences. For instance, the Easterners were largely Yeongnam-based; as for its subfactions, the Southerners were mainly followers of Yi Hwang, while the Northerners coalesced around the school of Jo Sik. The Gyeonggi and Chungcheong-based Westerners were largely followers of Yi I; followers of Seong Hon formed the Soron, while Song Si-yeol's followers became the Noron. These divisions were often further driven by questions concerning royal succession or appropriate royal conduct. For example, the split between the Northerners and Southerners was driven by debate over the proper successor to Seonjo. The Northerners supported Gwanghaegun; accordingly, they flourished under his reign (1608–1623), but were swept from power by the Westerners after the Injo's succession.

Under the reigns of Yeongjo and Jeongjo in the 18th century, a strict policy of equality was pursued with no faction being favoured over another. However, during Jeongjo's reign, strife re-emerged as the ruling Noron split further between the Byeokpa and Sipa, two groups which cut across the earlier factions and differed in their attitudes concerning Yeongjo's execution of his son, Crown Prince Sado, who was also Jeongjo's biological father. Eventually, Byeokpa was eliminated by Sipa in 1804. After that, the factions that are formed by philosophical and political beliefs never appeared. And this is known as the end of 붕당 (political faction). After the elimination of Byeokpa, Joseon politics in the 19th century shifted significantly, and the dynasty began to crumble as in-law families, rather than scholarly factions, came to dominate the throne. For most of the 19th century, the Andong Kim clan was in control of the government; however, there was a brief interlude in which control shifted to the Pungyang Jo clan.

During the reign of Gojong, real power initially belonged to his father Grand Internal Prince Heungseon, who on one hand sought to reform corrupt state institutions but on the other hand pursued a policy of isolationism, opposing the opening of the country to Western and Japanese influences. From the 1870s onwards, Queen Min (known posthumously as Empress Myeongseong) became more dominant and pursued a policy of cautious modernisation and opening up. Her dominance was opposed by reactionaries and progressives alike. These factional struggles led to the Imo Incident and Gapsin Coup, as well as increased foreign interference in Korean affairs.

Rise of Sarim
The Joseon Dynasty, which was founded in 1392 by the Reversal Revolution, established a new governing order with a centralized Yangban bureaucracy. During the period before and after the opening of the Joseon Dynasty, socio-economic changes occurred in which small and medium-sized landlords expanded. The establishment of the Yangban bureaucracy reflected this in the operation of the political system. Those with small and medium-sized economic bases in various places usually obtained the status qualification to become government officials and could enter central relations at any time through tests, greatly increasing the functionality of local communities as bureaucratic sources.

In the early days of the dynasty, the Yangban bureaucracy naturally created a class that established a hereditary status among the Yangban aristocrats. Commerce began to develop significantly based on improved agricultural economic power after the mid-15th century. Internationally, trade with China, Japan, and the Ryukyu Kingdom became active, and opportunities to acquire wealth increased significantly compared to before.

Under the conditions of this new era, Hungu ministers and their relatives were eager to expand their private economic base and pursued a wide range of commercial gains through international trade, grain trade, and cotton collection in addition to farm expansion. They also increased their wealth by using low-ranking officials in the center and magistrate and local influential people in the provinces. In this trend, exploitation of the general public was also carried out severely, and phenomena such as the inclusion of military service and the embankment of tribute appeared.

In the Joseon Dynasty, the heirs of small and medium-sized landlords steadily went through the intellectualization process through education such as Hyanggyo(local Confucian schools), a public confucian schools, and Seojae, a private school, and raised their political consciousness even if they did not have any political powers.

The term Sarim was used after the end of the 15th century to refer to many seonbis of locals.

Sarim's attempt on gaining central political powers
Whenever there was an opportunity to enter the center, the Sarim forces criticized the Hungu faction's dismissal and exploitation and stop their local infrastructure through activities based on Neo-Confucianism's public doctrine.

Four sahwa incidents occurred in the 16th century because the Hungu forces, who felt threatened by these challenges of the Sarim forces, imposed political retaliation.

However, despite the repeated sahwas, the Sarim forces were not easily defeated. From the end of the Jungjong's reign, they continued to expand their social and political powers by expanding the foundation for Seowon aimed at educating Neo-Confucian ideology.

Against this background, in the early years of King Seonjo's accession,Sarim-affiliated people were able to make significant inroads into the court.

Beginning of philosophical factions
After the Hungu lost powers, The Sarim forces then clashed over the eradication of the remnants of the old Chokshin political system of Hungu, with the two affiliates taking different positions.

Noh Sung-han Seonbi Organization, who was called Jeonbae, was in a moderate position, while the hu bae Seonbi Organization was dissatisfied with the fact that he tried to tolerate Shim Eui-gyeom, who opposed Kim Hyo-won's recommendation to court.

As a hubae, Shim Eui-gyeom tried to protect the people of the Sarim community the previous day, but he argued that he could not clear the remnants of Chuckshin system if he accepted him because he was associated with Chuckshin.

This confrontation within Sarim, which occurred due to differences in political decisions and views of the situation, eventually resulted in the division of the younger generation into the younger generation and the younger generation. Those who tolerated Shim Eui-gyeom became westerner And those who supported Kim Hyo-won became Easterners.

At that time, the Easterners were usually composed of philosophers of Yi Hwang and Jo Sik, and with the participation of Yi i of the Westerners, academic connectivity was enhanced.

Easterners and Westerners, the first philosophical factions in Sarim, had strong academic connectivity from the beginning, and a unique political faction of Joseon was formed.

Decline of factions
By the end of the 17th century, Bungdang politics had shown its limits. In other words, as the consciousness of coexistence between the bungdang collapsed, no matter which political faction, the tendency of the one-party premise was strong, and the political conflict intensified.

In this new situation, the proportion of chokshin, which had been greatly suppressed in the conventional bungdang politics, rose again, and powerful seonbi clans centered on it was formed to replace bungdang.

Seowon, which was an important foundation of Bungdang politics, was often confused with the shrine, which enshrines the ancestors of individual families, and was often unable to perform its original political function as a center of public opinion.

In addition, as political conflict became more intense, disruptive political phenomena such as spying, treasonous manipulation, and active retaliation such as death continued.

Although the phony of the bungdang continued, in reality, the tendency to prioritize the position of individuals or clans was noticeable, and even the local system was operated around the relatives of powerful clans or the royal family, so it was far from reflecting Sarim's public opinion.

At Sukjong's era Westerner's division into Noron and Soron occurred due to the transformation of Baengdang politics, and the frequent political upheaval of Hwanguk between the two factions and the Southerner shows the political turmoil of this period.

As political positions became extremely unstable due to frequent repatriation, political factions such as Noron, Soron, and Southerner supported each other's specific successors to the throne, and even revolted when they failed.

Tangpyeong
The Tangpyeong policy, which was implemented during the reign of King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo in the 18th century, was aimed at overcoming these political evils. The Tangpyeong policy aimed to correct the evils of Bungdang politics with the aim of directly presiding over all political affairs while denying the existence of Bungdang.

However, King Yeongjo's Tangpyeong policy focused on harmony between the bungdangs and pursued a transitional method called "Joje Bunghap," while King Jeongjo showed a toughness that did not tolerate anything other than loyalty to the monarch.

Meanwhile, monarchs who pursued the Tangpyeong policy showed the development of the times, suggesting the protection of small people as a new task of the monarchy. But because of king's strong policies on not tolerating who were not royal, the philosophical bond inside factions weakened. which resulted in few powerful clans taking over the central powers if the king was not stron enough.

End of bungdang
In the 19th century, when monarchs ascended the throne one after another at a young age, they colluded and emerged as a reactionary political form that suppressed monarchy.

The hereditary politics that continued in the early 19th century developed around the Noron's powerful clans. Ironically, they used their maternal relationship with the royal family (Chuckshin system) as a means of securing or maintaining a power base.

Philosophical lineage

 * Yi Saek --> Chŏng Mong-ju --> Gil Jae --> Gim Suk-ja --> Gim Jong-jik (Yeongnam Sarim) --> Gim Goeng-pil --> Jo Gwang-jo (Giho Sarim)
 * Yeongnam School: Yi Hwang --> Seong Hon, Ryu Seong-ryong, Gim Seong-il
 * Giho School: Yi I --> Gim Jang-saeng --> Song Si-yeol
 * Jo Sik --> Gim Hyo-won, Jeong In-hong, Gwak Jae-u
 * Seo Gyeong-deok --> Heo Gyun, Hwang Jin-yi, Heo Nanseolheon

Division of Sarim

 * Easterners (Yeongnam School)
 * Southerners (Yi Hwang)
 * Northerners (Jo Sik)
 * Greater Northerners
 * Lesser Northerners
 * Westerners (Giho School)
 * Noron (Yi I)
 * Soron (Seong Hon)

Political leaders

 * Easterners: Gim Hyo-won (his house was on eastern side)
 * Northerners: Yi San-hae
 * Greater Northerners: Jeong In-hong
 * Lesser Northerners: Nam I-gong, Gim Sin-guk
 * Southerners: Ryu Seong-ryong, Heo Mok, Yun Hyu
 * Westerners: Shim Ui-gyeom (his house was on western side)
 * Noron: Song Si-yeol
 * Soron: Han Tae-dong, Yun Jeung

Portrayal in media

 * In the South Korean TV series Yi San (2007), the Noron faction is portrayed as the chief enemy of King Jeongjo (personal name Yi San) and the antagonist of the series. It made his father, Crown Prince Sado, die while fallen from grace and tried to shame and/or kill Yi San throughout his life and reign; the Soron and Namin are mentioned in the dialogue. The series also portrays the split within the Noron faction during Jeongjo's reign and implies that it was a contributing factor to its political defeat.