Mid-Joseon official selected as an incorruptible official; held all six ministries and retired as Chief of the Privy Council (pen name Hangjae, posthumous title Jeongheon)
| Life | 1513 ~ 1589 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 초계 정씨 |
Jeong Jong-yeong (鄭宗榮, 1513-1589), of Chogye, courtesy name Ingil, pen name Hangjae and posthumous title Jeongheon, was a mid-Joseon official. Son of magistrate Jeong Suk and a daughter of Kim Gye-hun, he studied under Kim An-guk. His grandfather is said to be Jeong Yun-gyeom, a merit subject of the 1506 Restoration, so Jeong Nan-jeong, Yun-gyeom's daughter, was his paternal aunt.
He passed the civil examination in 1543, served as junior official in the Ministry of Revenue, remonstrator and editor, and was selected an incorruptible official in 1552. He was governor of Gangwon, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, was enfeoffed as Lord Palgye, and as governor of Pyeongan in 1563 founded an academy in Pyongyang to promote learning in the northwest. In 1567 he went to Ming as a condolence envoy; having headed all six ministries, he became Right Consultant and retired as Chief of the Privy Council.
As governor of Gyeongsang he is said to have dealt sternly with corrupt magistrates and monks, and when he retired officials saw him off at the Han River. Yi Jun-gyeong likened him to 'refined gold and fair jade'. He went down to Wonju in 1589 and died that August at 77; his posthumous title was granted under Sukjong.
He was enshrined at Chilbong Seowon in 1638 and also at Ungok Seowon in Wonju. His first wife was of the Munhwa Yu clan and his second of the Seongju Yi clan, and he had four sons (Yak, Yeol, Muk, Hok) and two daughters; Hok passed the civil examination and became a governor. Records say his great-grandchildren and later descendants numbered over two thousand, and Gonggeun in Hoengseong is still known as a Chogye Jeong village.
His tomb is at Gonggeun-ri, Gonggeun-myeon, Hoengseong, Gangwon.