Yun Hwang

Yun Hwang (尹煌, 1572 – 1639) was a civil official of Joseon.¹ His courtesy name was Deongyo (德耀), his pen name was Palsong (八松), and his family seat was Paepyeong. He was a disciple and son-in-law of Seong Hon.

Life

In 1597 (the 30th year of King Seonjo), he passed the special civil service examination (알성 문과) with a second-class rank and was appointed Acting Junior Clerk (權知正字) of the Seungmunwon. In 1599, he entered the royal presence as a secretary (주서), and after serving as Senior Clerk (첨정) of the Gunjagam and Junior Secretary (전적) of the Sungkyunkwan, he became an Inspector (감찰) in 1601 and soon moved to the post of Remonstrator (정언).

At this time, he argued that the Hongmungwan was an important office and therefore could not be filled through private appointment as a reward, and he also insisted that the posts held by royal in-laws (척신) be abolished. Afterward, he served as Junior Secretary (좌랑) in the Board of War and the Board of Rites, then as Senior Secretary (정랑) of the Board of Rites, and was sent out as Magistrate (판관) of Bukcheong.

In 1608 (the first year of King Gwanghaegun's reign), he was impeached by the Office of the Inspector-General for remaining at the government office in Bukcheong while leading his sons, who had recently married. As the politics of Gwanghaegun grew disorderly, he retired to the countryside.

In 1626 (the 4th year of King Injo), he served as Director of Remonstrance (사간) and Deputy Royal Lecturer (보덕), among other posts. The following year, when the Manchu invasion of 1627 (Jeongmyo Horan) broke out, he opposed making peace (주화) and asked for the exile of advocates of peace such as Yi Gwi and Choe Myeong-gil, and he argued that the defecting generals should be executed. However, because he called the peace policy a surrender, he incurred the king's anger, was stripped of his official rank and ordered into exile, but he escaped punishment through the intercession of the Three Offices (삼사).

The following year he again became Director of Remonstrance, and after serving as Magistrate of Giljumok, Magistrate of Anbyeon, Secretary (사성), Royal Secretary (승지), and Grand Academy Director (대사성), he reached the post of Grand Director of Remonstrance in 1635. At this time he offered opinions on measures to relieve the people, who had been impoverished by war, and afterward he served as Vice Minister of the Board of Personnel (이조참의).

When the Manchu invasion of 1636 (Byeongja Horan) broke out, he again insisted on rejecting the enemy as he had during the Jeongmyo Horan. After the surrender at Samjeondo, he was punished on the charge that the advocates of rejecting the enemy had brought ruin to the nation, and he was exiled to Yeongdong County. He was pardoned in October of the following year (1637), stayed in Geumsan, and in the next year (1638) returned to Isan, though in ill health. Nevertheless, he did not stay in the house where he had lived before, but went to a house below the family graves and lived there. He told his sons, "Leaving the capital may be excused as an effort to preserve the altars of the state, but since the army that aided the barbarians left for the west, under the principles of the scholar-gentry (士大夫) I cannot go out into the world."