It was separate from the Oemyeongbu (Korean: 외명부; Hanja: 外命婦) category, which consisted of royal women living outside the palace.

[1] The legal spouse of a King or Crown Prince during the Joseon period was selected through a specific procedure that differed from matchmaking practices common outside the royal family.

The government issued a ban on marriages in noble households throughout the country, indicating that unmarried daughters of the aristocracy between the ages of 13 and 17 were potential candidates.

[3] Depending on the age of the crown prince, girls as young as 9 were sometimes considered, which occurred in the selections of Lady Hyegyeong and Queen Sinjeong.

A temporary department called the Office of the Royal Wedding (가례도감; 嘉禮都監) was installed to manage all relevant tasks.

[5] This third presentation was conducted in the presence of the King and Queen Dowager, who consulted the three state councillors before making the final decision.

Women thus selected entered the palace with the junior 2nd rank at the minimum, and they would be granted a special title if they had a son who became Crown Prince.

[9] However, Lee Bae-yong suggests that this rule probably only applied to court ladies of the lower ranks, whereas those working closely with the King or Queen potentially continued to be recruited from good families.

For the rank of Bin, the King or Queen would attach a prefix in association with the character/personality of the Royal Consort, such as Huibin (Hui = Radiant), Sukbin (Suk = Clarity/Purity), Uibin (Ui = Appropriate/Fitting), and so forth.

Senior 5th sanggung (상궁; 尙宮) and sangui (상의; 尙儀) were the court ladies who served directly under the royal family members, or the head manager of their assigned department.

Queen Sohye, wife of Crown Prince Uigyeong, and a member of the clan, wrote Naehun, a Confucian morality guidebook for women.