Chief State Councillor and Director of Royal Decrees under Sunjo; pen names Geumneung and Sayeong; posthumous title Munheon; author of the Geumneungjip
| Life | 1760 ~ 1840 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 의령 남씨 |
Nam Gong-cheol (1760-1840) was a late Joseon official of Uiryeong, with courtesy name Wonpyeong, pen names Sayeong and Geumneung, and posthumous title Munheon. He passed the 1792 regular civil examination in the third class and rose through Chancellor of Sungkyunkwan, chief royal secretary, ministerial posts and Director of Royal Decrees to Right and Left State Councillor and finally Chief State Councillor. A central figure of Sunjo's reign, he is counted among the "Five Born Grand Historians".
In 1807 he went to Qing China as chief envoy of the winter mission; his Ilgi records exchanges and brush conversations with Chinese scholars. Prefaces received there were included in the Geumneungjip, which he compiled and printed himself in 1815, and he also left the Seohwa balmi, notes appreciating and criticizing calligraphy and painting.
In 1818, as Right State Councillor, a petition of his is said to have restored the rank of the unjustly executed General Nam I. His tomb is at Neungan-gol in Geumto-dong, Seongnam, on the Cheonggyesan slope, designated Seongnam Local Heritage No. 4 in 2002 and valued for keeping an older style without civil-official statues. His family is said to have lived in Jahadong (now Cheongun-dong), Jongno, Seoul.
After passing in 1792 he held key posts including Chancellor of Sungkyunkwan, chief royal secretary, ministers and Director of Royal Decrees, and under Sunjo rose to Chief State Councillor.
He recorded his 1807 trip to Qing China in the Ilgi and printed the Geumneungjip he compiled in 1815. Volume 1 of the diary is lost and volumes 2 and 3 survive.
The 1818 restoration of General Nam I's rank is credited to a petition by Right State Councillor Nam Gong-cheol, remembered as righting a wrong done to a member of the same family.
His tomb is at Neungan-gol, Geumto-dong, Seongnam, on the slope of Cheonggyesan, designated Seongnam Local Heritage No. 4 in 2002.