Sunjo of Joseon

Yi Hong was ten years old when his father King Jeongjo died in 1800, making him the 23rd monarch of Joseon before he'd learned to govern. The reforms he tried to push through met resistance at every turn, and by 1811 the frustration boiled over into Hong Kyŏngnae's Rebellion—proof that attempts at change had achieved the opposite of stability. His court also pursued Catholics with systematic cruelty, adding persecution to the list of failures. He died in 1834 at forty-four, having ruled for most of his short life. Decades later, when Korea declared itself an empire, they gave him a new title:…