Catholic persecution of 1801 in Korea

After the death of King Jeongjo in 1800 the ten-year-old Sunjo came to the throne, and power passed to the regent, who relied on the conservative Noron faction. The persecution of Catholicism, which had reached Korea from Beijing, also became a means of striking at the “Southerners” (Namin), among whom were many followers of “Western learning”: Yi Seung-hun, the first Korean to be baptized, Jeong Yak-jong and the Chinese priest Zhou Wenmo, who had been serving secretly in Korea, were executed, and the scholar Jeong Yak-yong was sent into exile for 18 years.

Hwang Sa-yeong, who tried to smuggle to the Catholic clergy in Beijing a letter written on silk pleading for the protection of Korean Christians — even to the point of sending Western ships — was captured and executed on 10 December 1801. The Catholic communities survived, but the persecutions recurred more than once in the 19th century.