Heungseon Daewongun

Heungseon Daewongun (흥선대원군, 1820–1898) or The Daewongun (대원군), Guktaegong (국태공, ‘The Great Archduke’) or formally Heungseon Heonui Daewonwang (흥선헌의대원왕) and also known to period western diplomats as Prince Gung, was the title of Yi Ha-eung, regent of Joseon during the minority of King Gojong in the 1860s and until his death a key political figure of late Joseon Korea.
Daewongun literally translates as "prince of the great court", a title customarily granted to the father of the reigning monarch when that father did not reign himself (usually because his son had been adopted as heir of a relative who did reign). While there had been three other Daewongun during the Joseon Dynasty, so dominant a place did Yi Ha-eung have in the history of the late Joseon dynasty that the term Daewongun usually refers specifically to him.


Life

Regent
The Daewongun was the father of the penultimate Joseon monarch Gojong, and for many years during Gojong's minority, and even afterward, he effectively wielded royal power.

During the mid-1860s Heungseon Daewongun was the main proponent of isolationism and the instrument of the persecution of native and foreign Catholics, policies that led directly to the conflict with France in 1866 (the so-called byeong-in yangyo) and the United States expedition to Korea in 1871. The early years of Heungseon Daewongun's rule also witnessed a large effort to restore the largely dilapidated Gyeongbok Palace, the seat of royal authority. During Heungseon Daewongun's reign, faction politics, Seowon and power wielded by the Andong Kim clan completely disappeared.

Struggle with Empress Myeongseong
His political life was characterized by struggles with Empress Myeongseong of the Min clan, the wife of the king. He had himself chosen her as the bride for his son, wrongfully anticipating she would remain a docile figure indulgent to his own political ambitions. The Daewongun's period as regent came to an end in 1873 in the face of growing opposition by his mature son, his willful daughter-in-law and the Min clan, as well as by the country's powerful Confucian officialdom.
In 1882, however, the Daewongun was briefly restored to power in the Imo Incident. But the Qing general, Yuan Shikai soon had the Daewongun abducted by Chinese troops and taken to China, thus foiling his return to power. Four years later the Daewongun returned to Korea.

Return to Korea
After his return, he lived at his own private residence at Unhyeon Palace in central Seoul not far from the royal compound at Gyeongbok Palace. He made one more brief return to power in 1895, chosen by the Japanese to oversee the Gabo reform government, but he was soon removed from power when his commitment to the reform program became suspect. He died at Unhyeon Palace in 1898.
In 1908, he was raised to the rank of Imperial Prince by his grandson, Emperor Sunjong, with the title of Heungseon Heonui Daewonwang.