U of Goryeo

U (25 July 1365 – 31 December 1389) ruled Goryeo (Korea) as the 32nd king from 1374 until 1388. He was the only son of King Gongmin.

Cultural background In the thirteenth century, Mongol forces had invaded China and established the Yuan dynasty in 1271. After a series of Mongol invasions, Goryeo eventually capitulated and entered into a peace treaty with the Yuan dynasty, in which Goryeo was subordinate tributary state to Mongol Empire. The Ming dynasty in China had grown extremely powerful during the 14th century, however, and it began to beat back the Yuan forces, so that by the 1350s Goryeo had managed to regain its northern territories and took back the Liaodong region.

Birth According to the records, U was reportedly born to slave girl Banya, a maid of the monk Shin Don, and King Gongmin. Because Gongmin initially denied the child as his son and refused to name him, Shin Don took it upon himself and named the boy Monino (meaning "servant of Buddha"). As a result of the King's refusal to recognize the child, intense debate and speculation surrounding the lineage of the boy ensued and Monino was not permitted to enter or live inside the palace.

Soon after the death of Shin Don in 1371, King Gongmin summoned Monino to the palace to formally recognize and proclaim the boy as his son and sole heir to the throne. Gongmin officially pronounced Monino to the Royal Court as Crown Prince and renamed him "U", recording his mother to be a deceased palace maid of the Han clan.

The anti-Ming group enthroned the eleven-year-old boy, as King Gongmin's successor.

Tensions over this crucial foreign policy protocol had not been resolved when the Ming Dynasty proclaimed its intention to establish a command post headquartered in the Ch'ollyŏng pass at the southern end of the Hamgyŏng Plain in 1388.

Pro-Yuan officials apparently succeeding in persuading the king to take action against the Ming, as he ordered General Yi Seonggye to conquer Yodong in Ming territory. Upon reaching the Amrok River and realizing that the strength of the Ming forces surmounted the forces of Goryeo, he decided to return to the capital and take control of Goryeo's government instead of destroying his army by attacking the Ming.

Returning to Kaesŏng and, after overpowering the royal court's defenders and removing (then killing) General Ch'oe Yŏng, Yi Seong-gye usurped the throne from Goryeo's Dynasty and took control of the government. Portrayed by Park Jin-woo and Jung Yun-seok in the 2014 KBS TV series Jeong Do-jeon. Portrayed by Lee Hyeon-bae in the 2015–2016 SBS TV series Six Flying Dragons. Portrayed by Im Ji-kyu in the 2021–2022 KBS1 TV series The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won