Gay King in Korean History: Gongmin

When did the gay culture begin? A lot of people believe that the LGBTQ+ movement emerged in recent centuries. However, there are several extant historical records in Korean literature that mention homosexuality. Although evidence of the homosexual activities is rare to find in the rather conservative nation, early historians in Korea have recorded gay or bisexual members in the royal family. The earliest example dates back to B.C. 57 during the reign of King Hyekong. However, among all the recorded homosexual kings in Korean history, King Gongmin of Goryeo is the most famous for his irregular sexual activities. After the death of his wife, Queen Noguk, Gongmin suffered from loneliness for several years. Then King Gongmin began pursuing young boys and practicing Buddhism to forget his sorrow. According to some historical records, he had several male lovers during this particular period. His attachment toward boys became stronger as time passed. As a result, he established an organization named Chajewhi, an organization formed to gather young beautiful boys from all over the nation to serve as King Gongmin’s personal sexual partners. However, King Gongmin later gets killed by his male lovers from Chajewhi. 

The film Ssanghwajeom, premiered at 2008, explicitly depicts the story of King Gongmin and Chajewhi. This movie had 1.5 million viewers in the first week it was released and caused a nationwide furor. Ssanghwajeom was the first movie in Korea to contain content related to homosexuality. As the movie starred a multitude of famous actors and actresses in Korea, it was a major breakthrough for the conservative Korean culture. There has been a controversy whether the homosexual content, played by widely known actors, was a cunning marketing strategy to increase the viewership of the film.

Contemporarily, our society is changing more rapidly than it ever has; with the progression of human rights, more and more supporters of LGBTQ+ initiate movements and protests to fight against discrimination. There are several pundits who view that homosexuality sprung from recent shifts in our culture and mindset. However, the historical records that prove the existence of homosexuality in ancient Asia indicate that an individual’s sexual orientation is not influenced or decided by society.