Volta
Person1586 – 1647

Choe Myeong-gil

Also called: Jicheon

Westerner who helped stage the Injo Restoration and led the case for making peace with Qing in the Second Manchu Invasion; also versed in Yangming learning

He was made a merit subject for his part in the Injo Restoration. He argued for peace in the First Manchu Invasion too, and at Namhansanseong in the Second he led the case for terms with Qing against Kim Sang-heon and the hardliners, holding that preserving the state came before principle. He went back and forth to the Qing camp to negotiate and drafted the letter of surrender. He later became Chief State Councillor, but when his secret contacts with Ming came to light he was taken to Shenyang and held there along with Kim Sang-heon.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1623Injo Restorationparticipant

    The Westerner faction deposed Gwanghaegun and enthroned Prince Neungyang as King Injo; the new pro-Ming stance soured relations with the Later Jin.

  2. 2
    1636 – 1637Second Manchu Invasion of Koreadiplomat

    Qing invaded Joseon. King Injo held out at Namhansanseong before surrendering at Samjeondo.

Related works

  • Film: The FortressDramatizedFilm · 2017 · Hwang Dong-hyuk
  • Book: The FortressDramatizedBook · 2007 · Kim Hoon · Hakgojae

Dramatized works (films, dramas, novels) may differ from the historical record.

People who appear alongside

  • Injo1595 – 1649

    Sixteenth king of Joseon, enthroned by coup; endured two Manchu invasions and surrendered at Samjeondo

  • Gwanghaegun1575 – 1641

    Fifteenth king of Joseon who began the Daedong law and balanced Ming and the Later Jin; deposed in 1623

  • Hong Taiji1592 – 1643

    Khan of the Later Jin and first emperor of Qing, who invaded Joseon twice

  • Kim Sang-heon1570 – 1652

    Westerner who led the call to fight on against Qing at Namhansanseong in the Second Manchu Invasion and was taken to Shenyang

Themes this person appears in

  • Factional Politics in Joseon1498 – 1863

    From the literati purges to in-law government — how Sarim factions moved from coexistence and checks to purges and one-faction rule, then through Tangpyeong to the dominance of a few clans

  • Ming, Qing and Edo Japan1500 – 1800

    The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning

  • Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800

    Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence

  • Reformation and Absolutism1517 – 1796

    From Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Catherine the Great — the wars of religion of a divided Christendom ended at Westphalia, and absolute monarchs armed with divine right, standing armies, bureaucracies and mercantilism, followed by the enlightened despots of eastern Europe, contended for the balance of power among sovereign states

  • Seoul18 BC – 1988

    From Hanseong Baekje to the June Democratic Struggle — the Han River land every kingdom fought for, and Joseon’s capital for five centuries

  • Ganghwa Island1000 BC – 2011

    From dolmens to the Treaty of Ganghwa — Goryeo’s refuge capital and the stage of Korea’s opening, the island the kingdom fell back on in every crisis