Empress Sunjeong

Empress Sunjeong
Empress Sunjeong-hyo in 1909.
Empress consort of Korea
Tenure	20 July 1907 – 29 August 1910
Predecessor	Empress Myeongseong
Empress consort of Korea
Pretender	29 August 1910 – 24 April 1926
Successor	Crown Princess Euimin
Born	(1894-09-19)19 September 1894 Hanyang (Seoul), Joseon Dynasty (now South Korea)
Died	3 February 1966(1966-02-03) (aged 71) Nakseon Hall, Changdeok Palace, Seoul
Burial	Yureung
Spouse	Sunjong of Korea
Father	Yun Taek-yeong

Empress Sunjeong of the Korean Empire (19 September 1894 – 3 February 1966) was the consort of Emperor Yunghui, the last emperor of the Joseon Dynasty and Korea.

Empress Sunjeong was born Lady Yun of Haepyeong in Seoul and her father was Marquis Yun Taek-yeong, the Lord of Haepung. Yun Bo-seon, 2nd president of the Republic of Korea, was her ninth cousin three times removed.

Empress Sunjeong married Crown Prince Cheok after his first wife (known posthumously as Empress Sunmyeong) died. On 20 July 1907, she became Empress of Korea when her husband ascended the throne after the forced abdication of his father, Emperor Gwangmu. The Empress was demoted by the Japanese government by the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910 and thereafter officially known as Her Majesty Queen Yi of Korea (this title, however, was ignored in Korea).

Empress Sunjeong became a widow 24 April 1926, when Emperor Yunghui died without issue at the Changdeok Palace in Seoul. Emperor Yunghui had been rendered infertile (and was also said to be mentally disabled) by poisoning in the Coffee Poisoning Plot.

During the Korean War, Empress Sunjeong stayed in Changdeok Palace as long as she could in the face of advancing forces from North Korea. During the war, the soldiers of North Korea invaded the palace but she reproved them and drove them all out. She then escaped secretly to the Unhyeon Palace when the war situation became too serious. As the war progressed she moved to Busan with other Imperial family members, including Princess Hui (wife of Prince Wanheung). According to The World is One, Princess Yi Pangja's autobiography, Empress Sunjeong went to Busan on foot.

After the war, the new government of President Rhee Syng-man, jealous of the popularity of the Imperial House, prevented Empress Sunjeong from entering the Changdeok Palace. She was kept imprisoned in Suin Hall, a narrow and unsuitable cottage in Jeongneung, Seoul. After a change in government in 1961 she returned to Nakseon Hall, Changdeok Palace with her dutiful ladies-in-waiting Park Chang-bok (d.1981), Kim Myung-gil (d.1983) and Sung Ok-yeom (d.2001), and five other staff.