Death of King Hyegong and the Start of Late Silla

King Hyegong died during Kim Ji-jeong’s revolt and Kim Yang-sang, who crushed it, became King Seondeok; the direct line of King Muyeol ended and Silla’s Late Period began.

Hyegong took the throne at eight with the queen dowager as regent. As royal power waned, true-bone revolts followed one another, beginning with Dae-gong’s revolt of 768. In 780 Kim Ji-jeong besieged the palace; the sangdaedeung Kim Yang-sang and Kim Gyeong-sin put him down, and the king and queen were killed in the fighting.

With Kim Yang-sang (Seondeok) and then Kim Gyeong-sin (Wonseong) the throne passed to descendants of King Naemul. The Samguk sagi calls the period from here to Silla’s fall the Late Period (hadae): twenty kings in 155 years amid constant struggles for the throne, while the sangdaedeung regained power.