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| Uireung is the royal tomb of King Gyeongjong and his second Queen Seonui during the latter times of the Joseon Dynasty. It is located at the foot of Mt. Cheonjangsan and the administrative location was called as Jungryangpo, Yangju at the time. | |
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King Gyeongjong was the eldest son of King Sukjong and Oksanbudaebin Jang, better known as Jang Huibin. His name is Gyun with nick name of Hwiseo. He was born in the 14th year of King Sukjong (1688) and was installed as the crown prince at the age of three. He began to govern the nation on behalf of his father from August, the 43th year of King Sukjong (1717) and was enthroned at Gyeonghwigung Palace three years later, when his father King Sukjong died. |
| The first queen of King Gyeongjong was Danui-wanghu Sim, who died during the days of the crown princess and was entombed at Hyereung, Donggureung. Then the second Queen Seonui, who was the daughter of Hamwon-buwongun Eoh Yu-gu, was installed as the crown princess. On enthronement of King Gyeongjong, she became the queen. She was known to have a mild character and good ability but died without heir at the age of 26 in the 6th year of King Yeongjo (1730). |
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| Being physically weak, King Gyeongjong died four years later after his enthronement and the historic records suggest that he suffered the bad health after his mother Jang Huibin was poisoned to death. He also had a gentle character and suffered from a number of diseases with no heir. As a consequence, he installed his younger half brother Yeoninggun (King Yeongjo later) as the crown prince. During his four years reign, there were two major incidents of massacre; one is Sinchuk-oksa in which the ruling party Soron swept the opposition Noron, a group that insisted on Yeoningun’s handling of the national affairs on behalf of the weak king, in the 1st year of his reign 1720 and the other one is Imin-oksa which took place in the 2nd year of his reign, 1722. History calls both incidents as Sinim-sahwa. During his reign, he made small guns in imitation of the western weapons and reformed the land measurement system in the southern parts of the country. |
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