Gongmin (Korean: 공민; Hanja: 恭愍; 23 May 1330 – 27 October 1374), also known by his Mongolian name, Bayan Temür,[1] was 31st ruler of Goryeo from 1351 to 1374.
[2] Starting with King Chungnyeol, prospective rulers of Korea married Mongolian princesses and were customarily sent to the Yuan Court, in effect, as hostages.
With the disintegration of Yuan, which had forcibly allied the Korean peninsula since the 40 year long Mongol invasion of Korea of 1238, King Gongmin began efforts to reform Goryeo government.
The land-grant system had broken down, and Mongol-favoured officials, along with a handful of landed gentry, owned the vast majority of agricultural landholdings, which were worked by tenant farmers and bondsmen.
King Gongmin became indifferent to politics and entrusted the great tasks of state to Pyeonjo, a Buddhist monk who was born as the son of a princess and a slave.
In 1365, King Gongmin gave Pyeonjo the nickname "Cheonghan Geosa" and the noble title of Jinpyeonghu (Chinpyŏng Marquess).
They interpreted his policy of cutting all ties with the Yuan and establishing relations with Ming China as a direct threat to their status and feared that further attempts at reform might follow.
The details of King Gongmin's reign and the circumstances surrounding his death are recorded in Goryeosa, the history of the Joseon period.
When he learned that it was Hong Ryun (홍륜), he told the eunuch that he would now have to kill him and the entire group of Jajewi men in order to keep the secret of her baby's paternity.
), at the royal palace in Songdo, the capital of the Kingdom of Goryeo, several men entered the King's private chamber in the middle of the night and butchered him with swords.
Though at least three people shouted, "enemy has entered," the palace guards dared not make a move, and the royal servants refused to come out of their rooms.
All six were executed, their fathers put in prison, their children hanged, their families' properties confiscated, and their brothers and uncles flogged and sent into exile.