Rebellion of Kim Heum-dol

In the year of King Sinmun's accession his father-in-law Kim Heum-dol plotted rebellion and was executed; Sinmun used the affair to purge the true-bone nobility and strengthen royal power.

Kim Heum-dol, Heung-won and Jin-gong were seized and executed, and the minister of war Kim Gun-gwan, who had known of the plot, was also put to death. The queen, Heum-dol’s daughter, was expelled from the palace. The true-bone aristocrats who had won the wars of unification were badly weakened.

In the Middle Period that followed, the sangdaedeung who led the council of nobles lost influence while the sijung, head of the Jipsabu that carried out royal orders, gained it. Sinmun went on to found the National Academy, organize the nine provinces and five secondary capitals, grant office land and abolish the nogeup villages.