The Easterners () were a political faction of the Joseon dynasty. This faction appeared during the reign of Seonjo of Joseon in sixteenth-century Korea, in 1575. Originating from friends of Kim Hyowŏn, they soon encompassed most of the disciples of Cho Sik and Yi Hwang, conflicting with Yi I and his followers, who formed the core of the Westerners. Though emerging as the dominant faction in the 1580s, it nearly collapsed at the suicide of Chŏng Yŏrip and the succeeding bloodshed in 1589. After Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl was exiled for attempting to make Prince Gwanghae the Crown Prince, the Easterners divided into Northerners and Southerners.
History
Division from Sarim After the death of Queen Dowager Munjeong and her brother Yun Wŏnhyŏng in the late Myeongjong period, the Sarim faction, which had endured four literati purges throughout the sixteenth century, came to power as the dominant political faction. At the time, the Sarim were united as a single faction. But this unity deteriorated during the reign of King Seonjo (1552–1567–1608).
In 1574, the official Kim Hyowŏn was nominated for the position of section chief of the Ministry of Personnel () which had the privilege of promoting scholar-officials, including the next section chief. However, Sim Ŭigyŏm, the brother of Queen Insun, opposed Kim's promotion on the grounds that Kim had often given bribes to the corrupt official Yun Wŏnhyŏng. However, Kim was promoted.
The next year, Sim Chunggyeom, the brother of Sim Ŭigyŏm, was nominated for the next section chief of the Ministry of Personnel. 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 (brothers of the queen were regarded to be more corrupt, as in the Yun Wŏnhyŏng example). Yi Pal became the next section chief of the Ministry of Personnel.
The incident resulted in a large political debate on whether Kim Hyowŏn's actions were just, titled the Eulhae Dangron ('factional strifes of 1575'). Supporters of Kim included Kim Uong, Yu Sŏngnyong, Hŏ Yŏp, Yi Sanhae, Yi Pal, Chŏng Chiyŏn, Y 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 (now Inhyeon-dong) to the east of Seoul, while the supporters of Sim, who lived in Jeongreungbang (now Jeongreung-dong) to the west of Seoul, became known as 'Westerners'. The controversy forever split the united Sarim into two opposing parties.
Most Easterners at the time of the Eulhae Dangron were younger officials, many having been officials only since the 1560s or 1570s. Moreover, they were generally students of Cho Sik or Yi Hwang. Therefore, the Easterners had a more liberal ideology.
Dispute with Yi I 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. 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 Hyowŏn 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. Sim had prevented a fifth purge of the Sarim (by chasing Yi Ryang and his followers from court in 1563), while Kim had helped form a Sarim government by introducing many new scholars into the government. However, Sim had interfered in politics despite his status as a relative of the queen, while Kim had been close to Yun Wŏnhyŏng despite his being a Seonbi. Yi I therefore believed that both sides were equal in their deeds and misdeeds.
However, Yi I believed that the fury of the Easterners had to be calmed. 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 brothers Yun Tusu and Yun Kŭnsu, 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. Yi I returned in the early 1580s (Chŏng Ch'ŏl also returned), and in 1582 declared himself a Westerner, revoking his earlier position as a neutral observer. However, the Westerners were no match for the Easterners, thus creating a solidly Easterner government in the 1580s until Chŏng Yŏrip's purge.
Easterner government in the 1580s In 1584 Yi I died, only months after being recalled to court. Seeing Yi's death as a chance, the Easterner Yi Pal attacked Sim Ŭigyŏm and many of the Westerners. Chŏng Ch'ŏl, Sŏng Hon, and Sim were fired, creating a solidly Easterner government for five years until 1589. Yi I and Sŏng Hon were ferociously attacked by Easterners, often on the charges that they had attempted to create a faction. This was often refuted by the pupils of Yi and Sŏng, however they could not effectively oppose the Easterners. (the source is a collection of Annals of the Joseon Dynasty)
The major seats in government, especially that of Yŏngŭijŏng (by No Susin), were taken by major Easterners. The more aggressive Westerners, such as Cho Hŏn, were exiled.
The Easterner government of the 1580s are often accused of increasing the damage caused by the Imjin War in the 1590s. Though controversial, mainstream historians generally believe that Yi I advised the king to prepare 100,000 soldiers against possible foreign invasions. However, this was refused by Yu Sŏngnyong, a major leader of the Easterners, because Yu believed that raising a large army would be harsh on the populace. However, Yi's worries were exemplified in 1592, when 200,000 Japanese soldiers invaded Busan. However, there is a theory that the advice was in fact a forgery invented by Yi's pupil Kim Jang-Saeng to make Yi I look wiser and to make Yu Sŏngnyong look foolish.
Chŏng Yŏrip's purge Chŏng Yŏrip was originally one of Yi I's students, and was promoted largely due to Yi's recommendations. However, Chŏng grew increasingly closer to Yi Pal, a major Easterner, and by the 1580s Chŏng sided with the Easterners to attack the Westerners. This caused an extreme hate of Chŏng by the Westerners. The king already disliked Chŏng, and Chŏng was forced to retire to Jeonju.
However, even in Jeonju, Chŏng remained a powerful presence due to his friendship with major Easterners, especially Yi Pal, who had a powerful influence in both the court and in the Honam region. In Jeonju, Chŏng formed a slave's association called the Daedonggye (대동계, 大同契), which trained slaves archery and other ways of combat. In 1587, the Daedonggye was powerful enough to defeat a group of pirates when the Jeonju magistrate's governmental army could not.
Chŏng was also an ideologue, who believed that "the world is public property, with many owners", and that "Yao and Shun became great because they gave power to the talented and not to their sons." Both ideas went against the absolute monarchism of the Joseon dynasty.
In October 1589, the Westerners Han Chun, Pak Ch'unggan, Yi Ch'uk, and Han Ŭngin claimed that Chŏng was secretly plotting to be king himself, using the Taedonggye, and that he was spreading toch'am, a heretical ideology, to influence the populace. However, the validity of the claim has been disputed, especially the reason that a major Easterner like Chŏng would rebel against the Easterner government.
Seonjo ordered Chŏng to be brought alive. Chŏng fled to the nearby Juk Island without destroying his letters or books and performed suicide. However, there is an opposing theory, suggested by the Easterners ever since the purge, that the Westerners killed Chŏng and disguised his murder as suicide.
The supposed treason of Chŏng created a chance for the Westerners to regain their power. Seonjo made the Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl oversee the investigation of the treason. The Yŏngŭijŏng (the premier) of the time, No Susin, and the Uŭijŏng, Chŏng Ŏnsin, were exiled due to their connections with Chŏng Yŏrip. (Chŏng did not destroy the letters sent to him when he performed suicide or was murdered, and the letters proved to be useful when searching out those who had been close to Chŏng.)
One of the most influential Easterners, Yi Pal, died under torture, as did his brothers. The family of Yi had excelled in the courtly examination for eight generations, and the family was the most esteemed in Jeolla Province. Yi's eighty-year-old mother and his six-year-old son was also killed by torture a year later. Most of Yi Pal's nephews died as well.
It was also found that Chŏng had claimed the existence of a more influential entity in the rebellion, named 'Kil Sambong'. Sambong was the courtesy name of Chŏng Tojŏn, who at the time considered to be a treasonous subject. The identity or even the very existence of 'Kil Sambong' remained unknown. Though various testimonies about 'Kil Sambong' were told by Chŏng Yŏrip's acquaintances, the testimonies did not match at all on crucial topics such as age, height, or appearance.
While the identity of 'Kil Sambong' remained a mystery, a group of Westerners claimed that Ch'oe Yŏnggyŏng, an influential scholar of Jeonju and a major Easterner, was 'Kil Sambong', because he sat at the highest seat in an archery practice held by the Daedonggye. Ch'oe was brought before Seonjo, where he claimed that he had never had any form of connection with Chŏng Yŏrip. Both Seonjo and Chŏng Ch'ŏl thought Ch'oe was not 'Kil Sambong'. However, Westerner pressure forced Seonjo to continue the torture of Ch'oe. Ch'oe died of torture in 1590.
The purge furthered the distance between Easterners and Westerners as eternal enemies, especially as up to a thousand Easterners were killed, exiled, or fired in the purge. The deaths of Chŏng Yŏrip, Yi Pal, and Ch'oe Yŏnggyŏng, who were all from the Honam region, caused a distaste for people from Honam within the court; this has been claimed as one of the causes of the Donghak Peasant Revolution.
Regain of Power In 1590, the Easterners Yi Sanhae and Yu Sŏngnyong and the Westerner Chŏng Ch'ŏl were the three State Counciliors - the Samjŏngsŭng (삼정승). At the time, Seonjo had not appointed a crown prince, although he was already nearing forty and had many sons. As his first queen was infertile he choice was to be done between the sons from concubines. The two oldest were from Royal Noble Consort Gongbin Kim. Prince Imhae, the oldest one, was known for stealing the properties of peasants, drinking alcohol, and being friends with gangsters. In contrast, the second-oldest son, Prince Gwanghae, was known for his intelligence and skill. Therefore, most of the officials believed that Gwanghae should be the Crown Prince.