If you look at the imperial history of Korea, you’ll notice that there are only a couple of queens who achieved the same kind of admiration and perhaps notorioty as the kings of Korean history.<\/p>\n
Queen Seondeok (\uc120\ub355\uc5ec\uc655<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>) was the first recorded reiging Queen in Korean history. She was the ruler over \uc2e0\ub77c<\/strong> of the Three Kingdoms period. Queen Seondeok was actually favored to be the next in line to the throne\u00a0by her father, King Jinpyeong (\uc9c4\ud3c9\uc655<\/strong>). Out of all\u00a0the king’s children, the Queen was\u00a0noted\u00a0for her intelligence. Queen Seondeok’s reign was an uneasy period. She had to wage constant warfare to keep neighboring nations from entering her kingdom. Despite this, her reign is considered by historians to be productive, with many important monuments built,\u00a0like the \ucca8\uc131\ub300<\/strong> (astronomical observatory).<\/p>\n Queen Min also posthumously named Empress Myeongseong (\uba85\uc131\ud669\ud6c4<\/strong>), was the last queen in a line of kings to have an iconic role in Korean history. Queen Min’s personal life was tragic. She lost both her parents at age eight and lost two sons to illness. Her political life was also difficult. She was disliked by the nobles for her advocate of education and modernization.\u00a0During her reign,\u00a0girls of non\u00a0noble lineage could\u00a0go to school and through her, Korea had its first official newspaper in Korean.\u00a0Her life ended when she was assassinated by the Japanese military in 1895.<\/p>\n Queen Inhyeon (\uc778\ud604\uc655\ud6c4<\/strong>) is one of the best known queens in Korean history. Queen Inhyeon was exiled when her rival gave birth to a son. When Queen Inhyeon was reinstated as queen, she died thereafter. It turned out that her rival Lady Jang (\ud76c\ube48 \uc7a5\uc625\uc815<\/strong>) had a shaman priestess pray for\u00a0her death. When King Sukjong (\uc219\uc885\uc655<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>) found out, he put Lady Jang to death by poison. In Korean dramas, Queen Inhyeon is always\u00a0portrayed as a sympathetic figure. She is idealized as the long suffering and kind queen who died because of a greedy and evil rival.<\/p>\n Queen Jeheon (\uc81c\ud5cc\uc655\ud6c4<\/strong>) was a jealous queen. She poisoned one of\u00a0her rival concubines and struck\u00a0her husband King\u00a0Seongjong (\uc131\uc885\uc655<\/strong>)\u00a0after an argument. When the king’s mother found out about this, she ordered the king to send\u00a0her to exile.\u00a0Thereafter, Queen Jeheon was ordered to be\u00a0executed to death by poison. Queen Jeheon produced a son named Yeonsangun (\uc5f0\uc0b0\uad70<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>), who later became one of the worst kings in Korean history. At first, Yeonsangun didn’t know about the circumstances of his mother’s death. When he found out, he killed the king’s mother, and the government officials responsible for his mother’s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you look at the imperial history of Korea, you’ll notice that there are only a couple of queens who achieved the same kind of admiration and perhaps notorioty as the kings of Korean history. Queen Seondeok (\uc120\ub355\uc5ec\uc655) was the first recorded reiging Queen in Korean history. She was the ruler over \uc2e0\ub77c of the…<\/p>\n