In 1627, Lady Kang, aged 16, was chosen by the court as a consort to the Crown Prince Sohyeon, the son of King Injo and Queen Inryeol.
The crown prince and princess were being treated as such because King Injo and his close administrators condemned Sohyeon's conduct as pro-Qing, and even though Prince Sohyeon returned to Korea in 1645, his father King Injo persecuted him for attempting to modernize Korea by bringing in Catholicism and Western science.
Prince Sohyeon died suddenly not long after his return to Korea in 1645; he was found dead in the King's room, mysteriously bleeding severely from the head.
Her misfortune, however, did not end there; her elderly mother and four brothers were executed by beating while her three young sons were banished to Jeju Island with two of them dying.
Royal Consort Gwi-in of the Okcheon Jo clan was also the cause of Crown Princess Kang's husband's death.