Younger brother of Queen Insun; leader of the Westerners at the factional split
| Life | 1535 ~ 1587 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 청송 심씨 |
Sim Ui-gyeom (沈義謙, 1535–1587) was a mid-Joseon official of the Cheongsong Sim clan, with the courtesy name Bangsuk and the pen names Sonam, Ganam and Hwangjae. A grandson of Sim Yeon-won, son of Sim Gang and younger brother of Queen Insun, he studied under Yi Hwang and became the central figure of the Westerners when the scholar-officials split into factions.
He passed the classics licentiate in 1555 and a special civil examination in 1562. In 1563, when his maternal uncle, the powerful minister Yi Ryang, moved against the Confucian literati, Sim impeached him and drove him out, protecting the scholars. He then held censorial and secretarial posts and, as Vice Minister of Personnel around 1572, enjoyed high standing among the literati despite being a royal in-law.
When the young official Kim Hyo-won was nominated as personnel section chief, Sim objected that Kim had once lodged with the notorious minister Yun Won-hyeong. Kim got the post in 1574, and in 1575, when Sim's brother Sim Chung-gyeom was nominated to succeed him, Kim objected that the post must not become the property of royal in-laws. The quarrel split officialdom into the Westerners around Sim and the Easterners around Kim — names said to come from Sim's house in the west of the capital and Kim's in the east.
At the urging of No Su-sin and Yi I, who feared an escalating feud, he was sent out as magistrate of Gaeseong and later served as governor of Jeolla and Hamgyeong, magistrate of Jeonju and Vice Minister of Rites. Yi I defended him, but after Yi's death in 1584 the Easterners had him dismissed; he retired to Paju and died in 1587. He inherited the title Prince Cheongyang and was enshrined at Woljeong Seowon in Naju.
He was praised as filial and frugal, a royal in-law who did not abuse power, yet King Seonjo blamed him as the root of factionalism. His eldest daughter is said to have married Yun Hwon, son of Yun Du-su.