The Red Palace is loosely based on the life and death of Crown Prince Jangheon (also known as Crown Prince Sado), a historical figure I’ve been fascinated by for a long time. When I finally found the courage to write about him, I tried not to stray too far from historical facts. I studied as much as I could about his life and listened to as many lectures by Korean historians as I could find. But even then, I am aware of my limitations both as a diaspora Korean and as a writer of fiction, and so my goal in writing this book was not to offer a purely fact-based account. For example, Nurse Hyo-ok’s murder is a fictional event, based on the real event of the Crown Prince’s first documented act of homicide, where he killed and beheaded Eunuch Kim Han-chae in 1757. Ultimately, my goal in writing this book was to tell a story, while being as true to history as possible.
And the history of Crown Prince Jangheon was a very sad one, indeed.
To give some context, the prince’s story is remembered as one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). At the age of twenty-seven, Crown Prince Jangheon was ordered to step into a rice chest on a hot summer’s day, and he was then sealed within by order of his father. He was left there until he starved to death eight days later.
This method of execution was the king’s attempt to evade the court rules that forbade someone from harming a royal person and the then-common practice of communal punishment, which would have endangered the life of the Crown Prince’s son (the only direct heir to the throne).
The question of what led to this tragic event is still a source of controversy. Of the two main theories, the oldest one suggests that the Crown Prince struggled with severe and untreated mental health problems that escalated into violence.
A review of the literature suggests that the Crown Prince did indeed suffer from psychiatric symptoms. However, this is a delicate and complex topic, and so I chose not to focus on this aspect of the Crown Prince’s life. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do justice to a portrayal of this particular experience without falling into the danger of suggesting that those who have mental health problems are dangerous. This is something I absolutely do not believe or condone.
As for the more recent theory, it presents him not as a “psychotic killer” but as a tragic prodigy whose revolutionary ideas clashed with the Old Doctrine faction, the leading political party at the time. He therefore fell victim to their political conspiracy at the royal court.
However, one thing to note is that even if Crown Prince Jangheon was really a victim of political strife, this doesn’t negate his homicidal acts. None of the scholars dispute the fact that the Crown Prince was a murderer, because these facts appeared in too many court documents, such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the Diaries of the Royal Secretariat, along with his wife’s Memoirs of Lady Hyegyoung. The violent acts he committed were ruthless, and he allegedly killed a hundred people in his lifetime.
Whatever the truth behind his execution is, the Crown Prince lived an extremely difficult and painful life and died in 1762 without the opportunity to reign. Many view this tragedy as King Yeongjo choosing his own political life over his son’s actual life. And after his son’s passing, the king gave him the posthumous title of Sado, meaning “Thinking of with Great Sorrow.”
For the rest of his reign, the king strictly banned any mention of the prince’s name. It wasn’t until many years later that Crown Prince Jangheon’s son, Jeongjo, would finally address the tragedy upon ascending the throne by declaring, “I am the son of Prince Sado.”
For those who want a more extensive account of Prince Sado’s life, I highly recommend the book Memoirs of Lady Hyegyoung.