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Tomb of General Kim Jong-seo, Sejong City
Tomb of General Kim Jong-seo, Sejong City

문화재청 (공공누리 제1유형) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Person1383 – 1453

Kim Jong-seo

General and chief minister who built the Six Garrisons on the Tumen; killed by Grand Prince Suyang in 1453

Sent by Sejong to Hamgil Province, he drove out the Jurchen and set up the Six Garrisons along the lower Tumen, which with the Four Commanderies gave Korea roughly its present northern border. He led the compilation of the Goryeosa and the Goryeosa jeolyo. As Left State Councillor he guarded the boy king Danjong as Munjong had asked, but in the Gyeyu Coup of 1453 he was the first to be killed by Grand Prince Suyang's faction.

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3 related events

  1. 1
    1433 – 1449Four Commanderies and Six Garrisonscommander

    Choe Yun-deok set up four commanderies on the upper Yalu and Kim Jong-seo six garrisons on the lower Tumen, laying the basis of Korea's northern border.

  2. 2
    1451Compilation of the Goryeosaauthor

    Under King Munjong, Jeong In-ji, Kim Jong-seo and others completed the Goryeosa, a history of Goryeo in annals-and-biographies form. The chronological Goryeosa jeoryo followed the next year.

  3. 3
    1453Gyeyu Couprelated figure

    Grand Prince Suyang killed Kim Jong-seo and Hwangbo In and took control; two years later he took the throne from his nephew Danjong.

Related works

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People who appear alongside

  • Sejong the Great1397 – 1450

    Fourth king of Joseon, creator of Hangul, patron of science and of the northern frontier

  • Choe Yun-deok1376 – 1445

    General who drove out the Jurchens on the upper Yalu and set up the Four Commanderies

  • Jeong In-ji1396 – 1478

    Jiphyeonjeon scholar who wrote the preface to the Hunminjeongeum haerye and led the compilation of the Goryeosa

  • Sejo (Grand Prince Suyang)1417 – 1468

    Seized power in the 1453 coup and took the throne from his nephew Danjong

  • Han Myeong-hoe1415 – 1487

    Strategist behind Grand Prince Suyang's 1453 coup

  • Danjong1441 – 1457

    Sixth king of Joseon, deposed by his uncle Sejo and killed in exile at Yeongwol

  • Sin Suk-ju1417 – 1475

    Jiphyeonjeon scholar who helped create Hunminjeongeum, wrote the Haedong jegukgi after a mission to Japan, and became Chief State Councillor under Sejo

Themes this person appears in

  • Writing Korean HistoryAD 375 – 1931

    From the Seogi, Guksa and Sinjip to the Joseon sanggosa — history-writing as royal display, Confucian record, assertion of independence and nationalist scholarship