Yeongjo (Korean: 영조; Hanja: 英祖; 31 October 1694 – 22 April 1776), personal name Yi Geum (이금; 李昑), was the 21st monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea.

Yeongjo is most remembered for his persistent attempts to reform the taxation system, and reconcile the various factions under his Tangpyeong policy (탕평; 蕩平; lit.

However, in spite of this controversy, Yeongjo has earned a positive reputation in Korean history due to his efforts to rule by Confucian ethics.

Before he died in 1720, Sukjong supposedly told Yi I-myeong to name Prince Yeoning as Gyeongjong's heir, but in the absence of a historiographer or scribe, no record exists.

Members of the Soron faction then came up with a plan to assassinate Yeoning under the pretence of hunting for a white fox said to be haunting the palace, but he sought shelter with his adoptive mother, Queen Dowager Hyesun.

The Soron accused Yeoning of being involved in his brother's death due to the earlier attempt of the Noron faction to have him placed on the throne.

Homer Hulbert described this in his book The History of Korea, where he said, "But we may well doubt the truth of the rumor, for nothing that is told of that brother indicates that he would commit such an act, and in the second place a man who will eat shrimps in mid-summer, that have been brought 30 miles from the sea without ice might expect to die".

The Annals of the Joseon dynasty record that one day in the 4th year of his reign, King Yeongjo woke up to the sound of early morning rain and said to his courtiers: Oh dear!

[3]As he worried that rain would ruin the harvest and force his unfortunate people to starve, the king ordered his courtiers to reduce the taxes and decrease the number of dishes in his own meals.

He reinstated the short-lived universal military service tax, and then went beyond the palace gates to solicit the opinions of officials, literati (scholars), soldiers and peasants.

His policies were intended to reassert the Confucian monarchy and a humanistic rule, but they were unable to stem the tide of social change that resulted.

The traditional division of government chartered shop, the license tribute goods suppliers and the small shopkeepers in the alley and streets were integrated and woven into a monopoly and wholesale system.

Even bootlegging of books became commercialised as competition developed among the well-to-do yangban who engaged in the publication of collected literary works by their renowned ancestors.

One example is the Chunhyangjeon (Tales of Chunghyang) about the fidelity of the gisaeng's daughter, which was widely read as a satire aimed to expose the greed and snobbery of government officials.

Park, who had earned great merit in putting down Yi In-jwa's rebellion in 1728, went around the nation arresting corrupt local officers in the name of the King.

Because Yeongjo could not execute his son without also implicating his daughter-in-law and grandson, he ordered Sado to climb into a wooden rice chest on a hot July day in 1762.

The early part of the new King's years were marked by political intrigues and fear of court officials who were afraid that he would seek revenge on them for petitioning the punishment that caused the death of his father, Crown Prince Sado.

Yeongjo is buried with his second wife, Queen Jeongsun, in the royal tomb of Wonneung (원릉; 元陵) in Guri, Gyeonggi Province.