[FICTION VS. HISTORY] Mysterious death of Crown Prince Sohyeon reimagined in 'The Owl'

On June 27, 1645, in the 23rd year of King Injo (1595-1649), the Annals of Injo state that Crown Prince Sohyeon, the king’s eldest son, “fell ill shortly after returning to his home country and died within a few days. His entire body was black ...

In film and television, historical dramas have never gone out of style. Fans of period dramas, both in Korea and abroad, like to be transported to a different time and learn about the stories that swept up — or were put in motion by — our ancestors. Some watch to see how the present compares with the past. Others watch to see progress. Foreign Korea-philes can get a crash course in Korean history while watching historical films. But all historical dramas create characters, add romantic plots and conflate or invent events to make sure viewers don’t lose interest. With Fiction vs. History, the Korea JoongAng Daily attempts to distinguish fact from fiction in popular period dramas and films for clarification and to dispel misunderstandings.

Actor Ryu Jun-yeol plays a partially blind acupuncturist named Chun Kyung-soo in "The Owl." [NEW]

On June 27, 1645, in the 23rd year of King Injo (1595-1649), the Annals of Injo state that Crown Prince Sohyeon, the king’s eldest son, “fell ill shortly after returning to his home country and died within a few days. His entire body was black and blood was flowing from all seven holes of his body. A black cloth was placed on his face, covering only half of his face. But no one, not even a person close by, could tell the color of his face. He looked like someone who was drugged to death.”

It was written about two months after the death of the crown prince, who had returned home after being taken hostage by the Qing Dynasty for nearly eight years. Other than this short yet jarring statement, nowhere in the official Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) document does it detail the death of the 33-year-old Crown Prince Sohyeon (1612-1645), leading many to raise doubts about the real cause of death, creating endless rumors and speculations even today.

A scene from "The Owl" featuring Crown Prince Sohyeon, played by Kim Sung-cheol, right, and King Injo, played by actor Yoo Hai-jin. [NEW]

This is how director Ahn Tae-jin’s historical thriller “The Owl” begins.

The director has worked his imagination into the facts to come up with a possible interpretation of what really happened to make the prince to die a sudden death. For this, he has created a fictional character — a partially blind acupuncturist named Chun Kyung-soo, played by actor Ryu Jun-yeol — to witness the crown prince’s death. The film was released in local theaters on Nov. 23, recording a cumulative 3.29 million moviegoers. The film is now set to be released on different streaming services from Tuesday.

Not just Ahn, but the people of Joseon during the period, including Crown Princess Minhoebin, with the surname Kang, had also raised suspicions about whether it may actually have been King Injo who killed the crown prince. Though not official documents, various records from the time state that there were rumors that King Injo had poisoned his own son, or that the crown prince died after getting hit by an inkstone thrown at him by his father.

In the film, the acupuncturist with hemeralopia, commonly known as day blindness, becomes the sole witness to the murder of Crown Prince Sohyeon as he watches his senior acupuncturist Lee Hyung-ik use poisoned needles to acupuncture the ailing prince, who ultimately dies from it.

Lee Hyung-ik, played by actor Choi Moo-seong, is a real historical figure, but the part of him murdering the crown prince following King Injo’s orders is just the director’s interpretation. In reality, Lee was a court physician who looked after Crown Prince Sohyeon until his death. As all physicians were punished following the death of a king or crown prince, Lee should have been punished as the one responsible for the crown prince’s death. It is said that the court officials requested that the king order a thorough investigation into the prince’s death or punish Lee, as he could not cure the prince, though Lee insisted that he died from malaria — a common ailment that took the lives of many commoners during the time.

But the Annals of Injo state that Lee was able to avoid being punished as he was King Injo’s trusted aid. It is also recorded that he was specially hired by the king’s concubine, Jo So-young, who was in hostile relations with the crown prince and the crown princess.

A diary written by Crown Prince Sohyeon while he was taken hostage by the Qing China. [YONHAP]

The film shows how King Injo is not pleased with the crown prince after his return from the Qing Dynasty. As depicted in the film, historical records state that Crown Prince Sohyeon had become friendly towards the Qing, a country that the king detested. The film stays quite true to this part of history — briefly explaining how King Injo was humiliated during the Second Manchu invasion of Korea in 1636, bowing his head and kneeling down before Qing’s ruler Hong Taiji at Namhan Fortress in surrender.

Samjeondobi located in Songpa District, southern Seoul, is a monument erected to commemorate the achievement of the Emperor of Qing after King Injo's Joseon defeated to Qing in the Manchu Invasion of Korea in 1636. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

During his stay in Qing as a hostage, it is said that the crown prince worked as a mediator between Joseon and Qing to ensure that Qing would not engage in hostilities against Joseon. After his return, as depicted in the film, the crown prince wanted King Injo to modernize Joseon by accepting Catholicism and western science just like the Qing. King Injo was discontented with the prince to the point of having suspicions that his son might be siding with Qing China, plotting to dethrone the king and take his place.

King Injo himself was also under deep suspicion for killing his own son, because there are no historical records of the king visiting his son’s tomb.

What about King Injo framing the crown princess for attempting to poison the king? In the film, the partially blind acupuncturist who witnessed the whole thing informs the crown princess of the truth. The princess visits King Injo to reveal that her husband was poisoned to death by physician Lee Hyung-ik, without being aware that the king was also behind the murder.

King Injo did indeed order the death of the crown princess by poisoning. Nobody knows the king’s true intention — such as whether the king really felt threatened by her as she tried to reveal the truth as depicted in the film — but according to the records, the crown princess continued to visit the king and wail over the death of her husband, begging the king to investigate the real cause. Then rumors are said to have spread that the crown princess was planning to poison the king, resulting in the king ordering her death without hesitation.

In the film, the crown prince and princess have only one son. But in reality, there were three young sons who were banished to Jeju Island after the mother’s death. The two older sons died shortly after. Instead of naming Crown Prince Sohyeon’s surviving son as the next crown prince, King Injo chose his own second son to succeed the throne. The crown princess’s mother and four brothers were also executed by beating. To this day, King Injo is regarded as a weak and unstable ruler, and is used as an example of a bad leader, often mentioned in the political scene.

A royal tomb of King Injo is in Jangneung in Gimpo, Gyeonggi. [JOONGANG ILBO]

King Injo died at age 52 and is currently buried at the controversial royal tomb site Jangneung, located in Gimpo, Gyeonggi. The tomb site has jeopardized all 40 royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, losing their Unesco World Heritage title early last year, due to the illegal construction of a grand high-rise apartment complex being built too close to the site, hindering the view of a mountain from the site. Unesco cited the “spots of outstanding natural beauty were chosen for the tombs which typically have their back protected by a hill as they face south toward water and, ideally, layers of mountain ridges in the distance,” as its reasons for granting the royal tombs of Josen the Unesco title. The construction was completed, but the lawsuit filed by the Cultural Heritage Administration against the construction companies that developed the new town is still ongoing.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]