[4] The incident resulted in a large political debate on whether Kim Hyowon's actions were just, titled the Eulhae Dangron ('factional strifes of 1575').

[4] In the 1570s, the conflict between the Easterners and Westerners intensified, despite efforts by people such as Yi I or Seong Hon to reconcile the hostile groups together.

[10] In 1575, Yi I was an advisor to Seonjo, and advised the king to send both Kim Hyowon and Sim Euigyeom as officials in faraway counties.

Seonjo then moved Kim as a governor of Samcheok, a town slightly larger than Buryeong, 150 kilometers to the east of Seoul.

[11] However, the Easterners, who were by far the majority in court, were not pleased that Yi I was apparently neutral in the conflict, when they believed that Sim Ui-gyeom had clearly wronged.

Despite his beliefs, Yi I began to worry that his attempts at reconciliation were meaningless because the Easterners still saw him as biased towards the Westerners.

However, Jeong added the single sentence "gathers other officials to create a faction" in the list of Sim's misdeeds in the advice.

[14] Jeong fled to the nearby Juk Island without destroying his letters or books and performed suicide.

The Yeongeuijeong (the premier) of the time, No Susin, was first sentenced to death, but was finally exiled due to his high status.

[4] One of the Westerner advisers claimed that Choe Yeong-gyeong, an Easterner scholar of Honam, was in fact the 'Gil Sambong'.

In 1590, the Easterners Yi San-hae and Yu Sŏngnyong and the Westerner Jeong Cheol were the highest officials, the Jeongseung.

[22] Meanwhile, the Easterners Yu Sŏngnyong, Yi San-hae, and the Westerner Jeong Cheol promised each other that they would ask Seonjo to make Gwanghae Crown Prince together.

[24] In 1592, the Japan invaded Korea with 200,000 soldiers as a result of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempt to conquer the Ming Dynasty.

[26][g] The crisis of the Japanese invasion (they occupied up north to Pyongyang), however, caused a cessation of political feuds for a time.

[27] Seonjo took the Northerners' side, saying 'The evil Jeong Cheol and the sly Seong Hon killed my just minister".

[32] Despite the Northerner government of the early seventeenth century, the Westerners still existed, led by students of Yi I or Seong Hon, such as Kim Jang-saeng.

[33] Meanwhile, some Westerners, notably Yi Gwi, Kim Ryu, and Choi Myung-kil, had low seats in the government.

[34] In 1618, the Greater Northerners exiled Seonjo's wife Queen Inmok under King Gwanghaegun's support.

[45] However, power was in the hands of the Westerners; Yi Gwi was made the Ijo Champan (the vice minister of civil service affairs, who had the power to appoint people as officials), while Kim Ryu was made the Byeongjo Champan (the vice minister of defense), meaning that the Westerners were in control of both the appointment of new officials and the military.

[60] Finally, on February 13, 1650, Kim was exiled to Hongcheon and his sons were sent to faraway places to serve as generals.

[62] Yi Yeong, a county magistrate, had a father-in-law who was the cousin of Gwiin Jo, and also friends with Kim Ja-jeom.

[63] Worried that the decline of the Nakdang would influence his career, he revealed that Kim was secretly planning a treason.

[70] Unlike the Sandang of the Hoseo region, the Handang were rooted in Seoul, and valued practicality rather than Neo-Confucian ideals.

[94] But ten months later, in 1650, Heo Mok wrote an essay detailing the reasons for Grand Queen Dowager Jaui having to wear a three-year robe.

[100] The Westerner Won Du-pyo agreed with Heo, advising Hyeonjong to change to a three-year mourning robe.

[102][103] He finally said that there was no great scholar to decide on the mourning robe, and that it was necessary to do what was certain (The Five Rites) and leave the decision of what was right or wrong to the future.

He first said that the Etiquette and Ceremonial directly said that the death of sons who are not the eldest but inherit the line also require mourning robes for three years, and therefore that it was unnecessary to bring up the term seoja.

[108] He then attacked Song's claim that it was unnatural for Jaui, of a higher rank than Hyojong, was to wear a mourning robe that children wore for parents by pointing out that it was just as unnatural for parents to wear three-year mourning robes at their eldest son's death.

[107] Hyojong, who was wary of the power of the Sandang, ordered a low level of punishment; stripping him of his honors and sending him back to the country.

[109] However, the Sandang continued their attack against Yun, and Hyeonjong was forced to imprison him in Samsu, near the northern border.