Actor Park Ji-hoon plays Danjong of Joseon, the tragic boy king of the 15th century, in the period film "The King's Warden." Courtesy of Showbox
Five centuries after his death, Korea’s official historical records still cannot agree on how the ill-fated King Danjong met his end. Now,“The King’s Warden,”this year’s surprise box office hit, steps into that gap, offering its own version of a story that the dynasty’s chroniclers documented in conflicting accounts.
Danjong was just 10 when he ascended the throne in 1452 as the sixth monarch of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), following the short, illness-plagued reign of his father, King Munjong. Within a year, his own uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, staged a coup that swept through the court in a bloody purge, claiming the lives of senior officials and driving many others into exile.
Forced to relinquish his crown, the boy king was reduced to a figurehead. By 1457, stripped of his royal title and demoted to a prince in name alone, he was sent into exile in the remote mountain valleys of Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. A few months later, the 16-year-old met his end there, far from the palace that had been his world.
What remains far less certain, however, are the circumstances of his final days. Depending on which historical account one chooses to consult, Danjong’s story takes on a different shape.
It is into this gray zone that filmmaker Jang Hang-jun enters with “The King’s Warden.” The period drama casts breakout star Park Ji-hoon as the doomed young king alongside veteran screen presence Yoo Hae-jin as a Yeongwol village chief who becomes his unlikely protector. Their imagined bond anchors the film’s emotional core. As of Saturday, it has surpassed 5 million admissions, becoming the most-watched release of the year so far.
A royal portrait of King Danjong / Courtesy of Yeongwol County
So how, in fact, do historical records diverge in their telling of King Danjong’s death?
One place to begin is with the dynasty’s most authoritative chronicle, the“Joseon Wangjo Sillok,”or “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,” which documented five centuries of state affairs and royal history.
In the volumes devoted to the reign of King Sejo, the uncle who seized the throne in the 1453 coup, the account is notably terse. Upon hearing of the execution of his sympathizers, Prince Nosan — the demoted title given to Danjong — “hanged himself; the court conducted his funeral rites in accordance with propriety.”
Source: Korea Times News
