The Easterners () were a political faction of the Joseon dynasty. This faction appeared during the reign of Seonjo of Joseon in sixteenth-century Korea, in 1575. Originating from friends of Kim Hyowà Ân, they soon encompassed most of the disciples of Cho Sik and Yi Hwang, conflicting with Yi I and his followers, who formed the core of the Westerners. Though emerging as the dominant faction in the 1580s, it nearly collapsed at the suicide of Chà Âng Yà Ârip and the succeeding bloodshed in 1589. After Westerner Chà Âng Ch'à Âl was exiled for attempting to make Prince Gwanghae the Crown Prince, the Easterners divided into Northerners and Southerners.
After the death of Queen Dowager Munjeong and her brother Yun Wà Ânhyà Âng in the late Myeongjong period, the Sarim faction, which had endured four literati purges throughout the sixteenth century, came to power as the dominant political faction. At the time, the Sarim were united as a single faction. But this unity deteriorated during the reign of King Seonjo (1552âÂÂ1567âÂÂ1608).
In 1574, the official Kim Hyowà Ân was nominated for the position of section chief of the Ministry of Personnel () which had the privilege of promoting scholar-officials, including the next section chief. However, Sim à ¬igyà Âm, the brother of Queen Insun, opposed Kim's promotion on the grounds that Kim had often given bribes to the corrupt official Yun Wà Ânhyà Âng. However, Kim was promoted.
The next year, Sim Chunggyeom, the brother of Sim à ¬igyà Âm, was nominated for the next section chief of the Ministry of Personnel. However, Kim Hyowà Ân, who had the right to appoint his successors, claimed that Sim was unsuitable for the position because he was the brother of Queen Insun (brothers of the queen were regarded to be more corrupt, as in the Yun Wà Ânhyà Âng example). Yi Pal became the next section chief of the Ministry of Personnel.
The incident resulted in a large political debate on whether Kim Hyowà Ân's actions were just, titled the Eulhae Dangron ('factional strifes of 1575'). Supporters of Kim included Kim Uong, Yu Sà Ângnyong, Hà  Yà Âp, Yi Sanhae, Yi Pal, Chà Âng Chiyà Ân, Y Sà Ângjà Ân, and Chà Âng Yugil, while major supporters of Sim were Chà Âng Ch'à Âl, Yun Tusu, Pak Sun, Kim Kyehwi, Ku Samaeng, Hong Sà Ângmin, and Sin Hà Ângsi. The people who took the side of Kim became known as 'Easterners', because Kim's house was in Geoncheondong (now Inhyeon-dong) to the east of Seoul, while the supporters of Sim, who lived in Jeongreungbang (now Jeongreung-dong) to the west of Seoul, became known as 'Westerners'. The controversy forever split the united Sarim into two opposing parties.
Most Easterners at the time of the Eulhae Dangron were younger officials, many having been officials only since the 1560s or 1570s. Moreover, they were generally students of Cho Sik or Yi Hwang. Therefore, the Easterners had a more liberal ideology.
In the 1570s, the conflict between the Easterners and Westerners intensified, despite efforts by people such as Yi I or Sà Âng Hon to reconcile the hostile groups together. In 1575, Yi I was an advisor to Seonjo, and advised the king to send both Kim Hyowà Ân and Sim à ¬igyà Âm as officials in faraway counties. Seonjo followed Yi's advice and sent Kim as the governor of Buryeong, a small town approximately 650 kilometers northeast of Seoul, whereas Sim was made the governor of Kaesong, a major city 70 kilometers northwest of Seoul. This angered the Easterners, as it seemed as if Seonjo was taking Sim's side. Thus to reconcile the Easterners, Yi I claimed Kim had a serious disease, unsuitable as a governor of the far north. Seonjo then moved Kim Hyowà Ân as a governor of Samcheok, a town slightly larger than Buryeong, 150 kilometers to the east of Seoul.
However, the Easterners, who were by far the majority in court, were not pleased that Yi I was apparently neutral in the conflict, when they believed that Sim à ¬igyà Âm had clearly wronged. However, Yi I believed that both Kim and Sim had done both good and bad things. Sim had prevented a fifth purge of the Sarim (by chasing Yi Ryang and his followers from court in 1563), while Kim had helped form a Sarim government by introducing many new scholars into the government. However, Sim had interfered in politics despite his status as a relative of the queen, while Kim had been close to Yun Wà Ânhyà Âng despite his being a Seonbi. Yi I therefore believed that both sides were equal in their deeds and misdeeds.
However, Yi I believed that the fury of the Easterners had to be calmed. To do so, he wrote an advice for the king to fire Sim à ¬igyà Âm and gave it to the Easterner Chà Âng Inhong, asking him to not change anything in the advice. However, Chà Âng added the single sentence "gathers other officials to create a faction" in the list of Sim's misdeeds in the advice.
When Seonjo asked Chà Âng who "the other officials" were, Chà Âng replied that it was Chà Âng Ch'à Âl and the brothers Yun Tusu and Yun Kà Ânsu, who were at the time the sole Westerners in court. Yi I was angered that Chà Âng had changed the words of his advice, forcing Chà Âng to revoke his former words by saying that though Chà Âng Ch'à Âl had done much wrong, he did not create a faction. He then retired to his hometown, causing the Easterners to be furious at Yi I.
Both Yi I and Chà Âng Ch'à Âl were forced to step down, while Sim à ¬igyà Âm stayed in court. Yi I returned in the early 1580s (Chà Âng Ch'à Âl also returned), and in 1582 declared himself a Westerner, revoking his earlier position as a neutral observer. However, the Westerners were no match for the Easterners, thus creating a solidly Easterner government in the 1580s until Chà Âng Yà Ârip's purge.
In 1584 Yi I died, only months after being recalled to court. Seeing Yi's death as a chance, the Easterner Yi Pal attacked Sim à ¬igyà Âm and many of the Westerners. Chà Âng Ch'à Âl, Sà Âng Hon, and Sim were fired, creating a solidly Easterner government for five years until 1589. Yi I and Sà Âng Hon were ferociously attacked by Easterners, often on the charges that they had attempted to create a faction. This was often refuted by the pupils of Yi and Sà Âng, however they could not effectively oppose the Easterners.
The major seats in government, especially that of Yà Ângà Âijà Âng (by No Susin), were taken by major Easterners. The more aggressive Westerners, such as Cho Hà Ân, were exiled.
The Easterner government of the 1580s are often accused of increasing the damage caused by the Imjin War in the 1590s. Though controversial, mainstream historians generally believe that Yi I advised the king to prepare 100,000 soldiers against possible foreign invasions. However, this was refused by Yu SÃ Ângnyong, a major leader of the Easterners, because Yu believed that raising a large army would be harsh on the populace. However, Yi's worries were exemplified in 1592, when 200,000 Japanese soldiers invaded Busan. However, there is a theory that the advice was in fact a forgery invented by Yi's pupil Kim Jang-Saeng to make Yi I look wiser and to make Yu SÃ Ângnyong look foolish.
Chà Âng Yà Ârip was originally one of Yi I's students, and was promoted largely due to Yi's recommendations. However, Chà Âng grew increasingly closer to Yi Pal, a major Easterner, and by the 1580s Chà Âng sided with the Easterners to attack the Westerners. This caused an extreme hate of Chà Âng by the Westerners. The king already disliked Chà Âng, and Chà Âng was forced to retire to Jeonju.
However, even in Jeonju, Chà Âng remained a powerful presence due to his friendship with major Easterners, especially Yi Pal, who had a powerful influence in both the court and in the Honam region. In Jeonju, Chà Âng formed a slave's association called the Daedonggye (ëÂÂëÂÂê³Â, 大åÂÂå¥Â), which trained slaves archery and other ways of combat. In 1587, the Daedonggye was powerful enough to defeat a group of pirates when the Jeonju magistrate's governmental army could not.
Chà Âng was also an ideologue, who believed that "the world is public property, with many owners", and that "Yao and Shun became great because they gave power to the talented and not to their sons." Both ideas went against the absolute monarchism of the Joseon dynasty.
In October 1589, the Westerners Han Chun, Pak Ch'unggan, Yi Ch'uk, and Han à ¬ngin claimed that Chà Âng was secretly plotting to be king himself, using the Taedonggye, and that he was spreading toch'am, a heretical ideology, to influence the populace. However, the validity of the claim has been disputed, especially the reason that a major Easterner like Chà Âng would rebel against the Easterner government.
Seonjo ordered Chà Âng to be brought alive. Chà Âng fled to the nearby Juk Island without destroying his letters or books and performed suicide. However, there is an opposing theory, suggested by the Easterners ever since the purge, that the Westerners killed Chà Âng and disguised his murder as suicide.
The supposed treason of Chà Âng created a chance for the Westerners to regain their power. Seonjo made the Westerner Chà Âng Ch'à Âl oversee the investigation of the treason. The Yà Ângà Âijà Âng (the premier) of the time, No Susin, and the Uà Âijà Âng, Chà Âng à Ânsin, were exiled due to their connections with Chà Âng Yà Ârip. (Chà Âng did not destroy the letters sent to him when he performed suicide or was murdered, and the letters proved to be useful when searching out those who had been close to Chà Âng.)
One of the most influential Easterners, Yi Pal, died under torture, as did his brothers. The family of Yi had excelled in the courtly examination for eight generations, and the family was the most esteemed in Jeolla Province. Yi's eighty-year-old mother and his six-year-old son was also killed by torture a year later. Most of Yi Pal's nephews died as well.
It was also found that Chà Âng had claimed the existence of a more influential entity in the rebellion, named 'Kil Sambong'. Sambong was the courtesy name of Chà Âng Tojà Ân, who at the time considered to be a treasonous subject. The identity or even the very existence of 'Kil Sambong' remained unknown. Though various testimonies about 'Kil Sambong' were told by Chà Âng Yà Ârip's acquaintances, the testimonies did not match at all on crucial topics such as age, height, or appearance.
While the identity of 'Kil Sambong' remained a mystery, a group of Westerners claimed that Ch'oe Yà Ânggyà Âng, an influential scholar of Jeonju and a major Easterner, was 'Kil Sambong', because he sat at the highest seat in an archery practice held by the Daedonggye. Ch'oe was brought before Seonjo, where he claimed that he had never had any form of connection with Chà Âng Yà Ârip. Both Seonjo and Chà Âng Ch'à Âl thought Ch'oe was not 'Kil Sambong'. However, Westerner pressure forced Seonjo to continue the torture of Ch'oe. Ch'oe died of torture in 1590.
The purge furthered the distance between Easterners and Westerners as eternal enemies, especially as up to a thousand Easterners were killed, exiled, or fired in the purge. The deaths of Chà Âng Yà Ârip, Yi Pal, and Ch'oe Yà Ânggyà Âng, who were all from the Honam region, caused a distaste for people from Honam within the court; this has been claimed as one of the causes of the Donghak Peasant Revolution.
In 1590, the Easterners Yi Sanhae and Yu Sà Ângnyong and the Westerner Chà Âng Ch'à Âl were the three State Counciliors - the Samjà Ângsà Âng (ì¼ì Âì¹). At the time, Seonjo had not appointed a crown prince, although he was already nearing forty and had many sons. As his first queen was infertile he choice was to be done between the sons from concubines. The two oldest were from Royal Noble Consort Gongbin Kim. Prince Imhae, the oldest one, was known for stealing the properties of peasants, drinking alcohol, and being friends with gangsters. In contrast, the second-oldest son, Prince Gwanghae, was known for his intelligence and skill. Therefore, most of the officials believed that Gwanghae should be the Crown Prince.
However, Yi Sanhae knew that Seonjo was much closer to Royal Noble Consort Inbin Kim and her eldest son, Prince Sinseong, over either Imhae or Gwanghae. Yi also knew that both Chà Âng Ch'à Âl and Yu Sà Ângnyong wanted Gwanghae as crown prince. Finally, Yi was also aware that Yu had a cautious nature, while Chà Âng did not.
Yi Sanhae so decided to bring down Chà Âng Ch'à Âl and the Westerners. He told Kim Kongnyang, the brother of Consort In, that Chà Âng was planning to kill Consort In and Prince Sinseong, right after he had made Gwanghae the Crown Prince. Kim told Yi's story to Consort In, who in turn told it to Seonjo.
Meanwhile, the Easterners Yu Sà Ângnyong, Yi Sanhae, and Yi Seongjung and the Westerner Chà Âng Ch'à Âl promised each other that they would ask Seonjo to make Gwanghae Crown Prince together. However, Yi Sanhae did not appear at the promised date (he claimed he was ill). Yu Sà Ângnyong was too cautious to bring the subject up, and Chà Âng Ch'à Âl was the first to advise Seonjo to make Gwanghae Crown Prince. When Chà Âng Ch'à Âl brought the matter up, Seonjo was infuriated, believing that the story told by Consort In was true. Seonjo exiled Chà Âng Ch'à Âl and fired Westerners such as the Yun Tusu brothers, recreating a solidly Easterner government.
Meanwhile, in 1590 (when the Easterners regained power), the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, ending the Sengoku period. He had already been the most powerful figure in the archipelago since 1583. Toyotomi wanted to conquer the Ming China, using Korea as the main route, and in 1587 he asked the Joseon Kingdom for a safe route. This was refused.
Nevertheless, Toyotomi continuously asked the Joseon Kingdom to open such a route. Seonjo, worried about a possible war with a unified Japan, sent the Easterner Kim SÃ Ângil and the Westerner Hwang Yung-il to Japan as envoys. The Seonjo Sillok, compiled by Easterners during the reign of King Gwanghae, says that Hwang accepted so many gifts from Japan that his "pockets were full of money", while Kim refused to accept any form of gift.
When the envoys returned to Joseon, Hwang said that Toyotomi was "strong and fierce", and that it was almost certain that Japan would invade. Kim, however, said that Toyotomi was like a "cowardly rat" and that he would not invade. According to the Easterner Yu SÃ Ângnyong in his Jingbirok, the reason for Kim's saying that Japan would not invade was to stop the people from being frightened or rioting. Because Kim was an Easterner, and because Easterners were in power at the time, the court did not prepare for war. However, Hwang proved ultimately correct, as Toyotomi invaded Busan with 200,000 soldiers in 1592, and the unprepared government collapsed at the onslaught.
Chà Âng Ch'à Âl was fired with most of the Westerners in 1590, the Easterners differed on whether they should kill or just exile Chà Âng. Most of the Easterners who wanted to kill Chà Âng lived near Bugaksan (translated to the Northern rock), while most of the Easterners who opposed killing Chà Âng lived near Namsan (translated to the Southern mountain). The location caused those who wanted Chà Âng's death to be called the 'Northerners', while those who opposed his death became called 'Southerners'.
However, the dispute on whether Chà Âng should die or not was the sole, or even the most influential, cause of the split. The students of Cho Sik had suffered terrible damages by Chà Âng Yà Ârip's purge, while the followers of Yi Hwang had not lost anyone. Moreover, Yu Sà Ângnyong, the most influential of Yi Hwang's students, retained a close relationship with Chà Âng Ch'à Âl, who led the purge. Thus, Cho Sik's students wanted to kill Chà Âng Ch'à Âl more than Yu Sà Ângnyong and other students of Yi Hwang did. Another cause for division was that Chà Âng Inhong, the most favored student of Cho Sik, had a contempt for Yi Hwang and his pupils, who formed a large part of the Easterners. These differences within the Easterner camp led to the followers of Yi Hwang becoming largely Southerners, while the followers of Cho Sik became largely Northerners.
By 1598, the split of the Easterners had become apparent, with Southerners such as Yu SÃ Ângnyong being attacked by Northerners such as Yi Ich'Ã Âm. However, the Northerners were still closer to the Southerners than to the Westerners, and after the Westerners gained power in 1623, most of the surviving Northerners were absorbed by the Southerners.
The ideologies of the Easterners were very diverse, including pupils of Cho Sik, Yi Hwang, and Sà  Kyà Ângdà Âk. The people who formed the Easterners were largely of the Yeongnam School of philosophy, which included Cho Sik and Yi Hwang. By contrast, the majority of the Westerners were of the Giho School of Yi Yi and Sà Âng Hon. Later, as the Nammyeong School collapsed, the phrase 'Yeongnam School' became synonymous with the T'oegye School.
The Yeongnam School was divided into four:
After the Easterner division, the Northerners gained power, and they themselves divided into the Greater Northerners (of, among others, Chà Âng Inhong) and the Lesser Northerners (of, among others, Yu Yeonggyeong). The two Northerners battled throughout the last years of the Seonjo reign and the entire of the Gwanghaegun reign, though the Greater Northerners gained the upper hand with the imprisonment of Queen Inmok in 1618. However, the Northerner government was brought down when Gwanghaegun of Joseon was brought down by a coup from Prince Neungyang and the Westerners. Despite efforts by Nam Iung to revive the Northerners, they soon joined the Southerners.
Meanwhile, the Southerners remained an unimportant faction until the Hyeonjong era, when the Yesong debate enabled the Southerners to gain power in 1674, the first time that the Southerners were a majority in the government. The Southerners ruled as a majority faction until 1680, when the Gyeongsin Hwanguk occurred, killing prominent Southerners such as Hà  Chà Âk, Yun Hyu, and Yu Hyeok-hyeon.
However, in 1689, the Southerner concubine Royal Noble Consort Huibin Jang delivered Sukjong's first son, causing Sukjong to change the Westerner government into a Southerner one. However, the Southerner government was changed to a Westerner government again in 1694, and the Southerners never gained power again.