The next three years were spent in killing off all who had been specially favored under the last king, excepting the venerable Yi Hang-bok, who stood so high in the esteem of the people that even the wicked king did not dare to lay hands upon him. One method of getting rid of objectionable people was to promise release to some criminal if he would swear that he had heard the men conspiring against the king; but the king’s thirst for blood could not be quenched so long as the young prince was living. The latter was now six or seven years old. No one dared to make a move against him openly, but the officials knew that if they wanted to become favorites with the king it could be done only by suggesting some plan whereby the boy could be killed without bringing on a general insurrection. It was accomplished as follows. Pak Eung-sŭ, a well-known resident of Yŭ-ju became a highwayman. He was captured and taken to Seoul for trial. After he had been condemned, Yi I-ch‘ŭm the court favorite sent to him in prison and said, “You are to die to-morrow, but if you will declare that you and several other men have conspired to depose the king and place the young prince on the throne you will not only be released but rewarded as well.” When therefore the king received the written confession of the wretch he feigned surprise but instantly caught and executed the principals named. His satellites also urged that he must kill the young prince and his mother, for they must surely be privy to the plot. And her father too must be beheaded. The king did not dare to go to these lengths all at once, but he began by beheading the queen’s father, and banishing the boy to Kang-wha. When the men came to take him he hid beneath his mother’s skirt but the brutal captors pushed her over and dragged the lad away. These acts enraged the people almost beyond endurance and memorials poured in upon the king from people who preferred death itself to permitting such acts to go unchallenged. The king however answered them one and all by killing the writers or stripping them of rank and banishing them. As the boy had been separated from his mother and banished to Kang-wha, he could be dealt with at pleasure. His death would remain unknown for a time, and the matter would pass by unnoticed. So in the following year, at the instigation of Yi I-ch’ŭm, the magistrate of Kang wha put the boy in a small room, built a roaring fire under it and suffocated him, an extreme of barbarity which the world can hardly parallel. The news soon spread among the officials. Scores of memorials poured in upon the king who answered them as before by banishment and death. Chapter IV.