Son of Gim Yuk; Minister of Taxation and of War and calligrapher who carried the Daedong Law into Jeolla; posthumous title Chungsuk
| Life | 1616 ~ 1671 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 청풍 김씨 |
Gim Jwa-myeong (1616-1671) of the Cheongpung Gim clan was a late-Joseon official and calligrapher with courtesy name Iljeong, pen name Gwigye and posthumous title Chungsuk. His father was Chief State Councillor Gim Yuk and his younger brother was Gim U-myeong. He married a Pyeongsan Sin woman, daughter of Sin Ik-seong and Princess Jeongsuk; their son was Gim Seok-ju. He was the elder uncle of Queen Myeongseong.
He passed the sama examination in 1633 and the special civil examination in 1644, entering the Office of Diplomatic Documents. Exiled to Anbyeon in 1648 while a Hongmungwan editor, he returned as a Personnel Ministry secretary and later served as Inspector-General, Governor of Gyeonggi, Chief Royal Secretary and vice minister of Personnel. Around 1662 he was minister of Works and Rites, then Taxation, and in 1668 became Minister of War and Defender of Suwon.
As Minister of Taxation he curbed clerks’ corruption and tidied finances; as defense commander he restored discipline, stocked arms and grain and held a great review at Noryang. Following his father’s dying wish he directed with Governor Seo Pil-won the Jeolla Daedong regulations, issued in 1663. He was admired for bold, forceful calligraphy modeled on Tao Yuanming, and his writing survives on several steles. His collected works are Gwigye Yugo.
He is said to have warned that factional strife would ruin the state. In the first ritual dispute he did not side with the Westerners but judged the Southerners’ three-year mourning view correct, drawing criticism; he was later enshrined in King Hyeonjong’s ancestral hall.
Some praise his fair, decisive work at the Taxation and War ministries, while others criticize him as haughty and aristocratic. He was posthumously made Chief State Councillor and Prince Cheongneung.
He lies with his wife (Pyeongsan Sin) in the Munui-gong cemetery in Sampae-dong, Namyangju; his spirit-way stele, raised in 1679, stands beside his father’s.
Son Gim Seok-ju and grandson Gim Do-yeon.