GwanghaeGun-Myo is the grave of Lord Gwanghae, the 15th king of Joseon, and his Queen YU.

It is located in Songneung-Ri, Jingeon-Eup, Namyangju-City as Historical Site #363. Lord Gwanghae (1575~1641) was the second son of King Seonjo and Royal Harem Gongbin KIM.

He married a daughter of Ja-Sin YU, who was of a high official rank.

Properly speaking, Lord Imhe, who was the first son of Gongbin KIM and the first among all the offspring of Seonjo’s concubines, should have been the Crown Prince. Due to Imhe’s blatant inability to rule the kingdom, the second son, Gwanghe became the Crown Prince. Since King Seonjo wanted to revoke Lord Gwanghae’s title and Royal Prince Yeongchang to be the king. He failed to do so since Seonjo met with an untimely death.
After many struggle for the reign, Lord Gwanghae finally became the king on February 1608, when he was 34 years old. He employed decisive policies to restore the chaotic society that resulted from the political strife. He established the Seonhye office and applied the Daedong system in Gyeonggi-Do in 1608. He also practiced the Yangjeon system to secure the national financial resources and rebuilded the Gyunghui Palace and Ingyeong Palace damaged by the scourge of war.

As the Latter-Keum dynasty began in China around this era, he reinforced the national defense by building military hardware. He used efficient diplomatic skills between the Myeong and Latter-Keum. In the meantime, “Honggildongjeon” by Gyun HEO, “Dongeuibogam” by Jun HEO, etc. were published around this time, so in the areas of literature and medical science we achieved unprecedented development.

Despite these advances, however, Lord Gwanghae killed many people, including Lord Inhe born of the same mother and Royal Prince Yeongchang by denouncing them as conspirators. He was essentially an immoral character, he virtually kept Queen Mother Inmok captive in the west palace.

This provided the Seoin Party with the justification to depose the ruler, and Lord Gwanghae was eventually dethroned through the Injo Reform. After his dethronement, he was exiled to Ganghwa Island and Jeju Island, and died in 1641 (the 20th year of King Injo), when he was 67 years old.

It has been known that Lord Gwanghae lived his exiled life like a hermit, and he was buried at the down-right side of Gongbin KIM’s grave according to his last will. His wife YU was deposed also through the Injo Reform and died in Ganghwa, where she was exiled, in 1623 (the first year of King Injo).

The design of the grave was based on that of Royal prince’s grave, having a gravestone, a stone offertory table, stone posts, etc. The upper part of the right post is damaged, there is a flower figure in the middle of the stone lantern, and the stone roof has an octagon shape.

Location : San 59, Songneung-ri, Jingeon-eup

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