Official who served as inspector and royal secretary under Gwanghaegun and was exiled after the 1623 coup; son of Hwang Yeo-il; pen name Dongmyeong
| Life | 1577 ~ 1648 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 평해 황씨 |
Hwang Jung-yun (1577-1648) was a mid-Joseon official of the Pyeonghae Hwang clan with courtesy name Dogwang. He was the son of Hwang Yeo-il, vice-minister of works, and his mother was a daughter of Kim Su-il and a niece of Hakbong Kim Seong-il. He is said to have been born on 7 May 1577 at his maternal home in Cheonjeon-ri, Andong, and to have died on 29 March 1648 aged seventy-two. He began learning from his grandfather around seven and had read the Four Books and Three Classics by twelve or thirteen.
He passed the preliminary licentiate examination in 1604, the licentiate and literary licentiate examinations in 1605 and the special civil examination in 1612 with top class. He served as remonstrance official, secretary and aide, ministry of war aide and inspector in the Office of the Inspector-General, rising to the posts of royal secretary. In 1618, when Ming asked for 7,000 troops for the defense of Liaodong, he opposed conscription, and around 1619, as an inspector, he reported officials taking bribes in the military examination. In 1620 he travelled to Beijing carrying a memorial as an envoy.
After the 1623 coup that brought Injo to the throne, he was impeached by the two censorates as an associate of Yi I-cheom who had followed Gwanghaegun's wishes, and was confined in a border district. The next year he was moved inland, spending exile at Haenam and Seosan, and in 1633 he was released by special order and withdrew to Woryadong, building Suwoldang as his father had wished. In 1637, on hearing that Injo had surrendered to the Qing, he is said to have wept facing west, and afterwards lived wandering through mountain temples and remote valleys. His collected works, Dongmyeong seonsaeng munjip, published in 1905, are held at the Kyujanggak. Dictionaries classify him as a mid- or late-Joseon official, but the facts of his life agree.
His tomb could not be confirmed here.