# Splendid Politics

Splendid Politics (Korean: 화정; Hanja: 華政; RR: Hwajeong) is a 2015 South Korean television series starring Cha Seung-won, Lee Yeon-hee, Kim Jaewon, Seo Kang-joon, Han Joo-wan and Jo Sung-ha. It aired on MBC from April 13 to September 29, 2015 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00 for 50 episodes.
The Korean title Hwajeong is a shortened version of Hwaryeohan Jeongchi (literally "Splendid Politics").

## Plot

Prince Gwanghae (portrayed by Cha Seung-won), son of a concubine, usurps the Joseon throne from the direct bloodline of his father, King Seonjo (portrayed by Park Yeong-gyu).
After her younger brother, Grand Prince Yeongchang (portrayed by Jeon Jin-seo), is executed, Princess Jeongmyeong (portrayed by Lee Yeon-hee), who managed to flee the palace during the massacre, starts living as a commoner disguised as a man while plotting her revenge.

## Cast
### Main

* Cha Seung-won as Yi Hon, Prince Gwanghae
** Lee Tae-hwan as young Yi Hon
* Lee Yeon-hee as Princess Jeongmyeong
** Jung Chan-bi as young Princess Jeongmyeong
** Heo Jung-eun as child Princess Jeongmyeong
* Kim Jae-won as Prince Neungyang, later King Injo
* Seo Kang-joon as Hong Joo-won
** Yoon Chan-young as young Hong Joo-won
** Choi Kwon-soo as child Hong Joo-won
* Han Joo-wan as Kang In-woo
** Ahn Do-gyu as young Kang In-woo
** Lee Tae-woo as child Kang In-woo
* Jo Sung-ha as Kang Joo-sun, Kang In-woo's father

### Supporting
#### Royal Household

* Park Yeong-gyu as King Seonjo
* Shin Eun-jung as Queen Inmok
* Choi Jong-hwan as Prince Imhae
* Jang Seung-jo as Prince Jeongwon, Prince Neungyang's father
* Kim Gyu-sun as Princess Jeonghye
* Jeon Jin-seo as Grand Prince Yeongchang
* Lee Seung-ah as Queen Inryeol
* Baek Sung-hyun as Crown Prince Sohyeon
** Shin Ki-joon as child Crown Prince Sohyeon
* Kim Hee-jung as Crown Princess Minhoe
* Lee Tae-ri as Grand Prince Bongrim, later King Hyojong
** Song Jun-hee as child Grand Prince Bongrim
* Kim Min-seo as Jo Yeo-jeong / Royal Consort So-yong of the Okcheon Jo clan
* Choi Woo-jin as Yi Jing, Prince Sungseon

#### Northern Faction (Gwanghae Group)

* Jung Woong-in as Lee Yi-cheom
* Kim Yeo-jin as Court Lady Kim Gae-shi
** Jo Jung-eun as young Kim Gae-shi
** Shin Rin-ah as child Kim Gae-shi
* Han Myung-koo as Chung In-hong
* Yoo Seung-mok as Yoo Hee-boon
* Jung Kyu-soo as Lee Choong
* Lee Jae-gu as the Chief Eunuch

#### Western Faction (Injo Group)

* Jo Min-ki as Kim Ja-jeom
* Park Jun-gyu as Kim Ryu
* Jang Gwang as Yi Gwi
* Kim Hyung-beom as Kim Kyung-jing, Kim Ryu's son
* Lee Seung-hyo as Lee Si-baek
* Kim Seo-kyung as Lee Si-bang
* Jung Wook as a State Ceremony Eunuch

#### People around Princess Jeongmyeong

* Im Ho as Choi Myung-gil
* Lee Jae-yong as Kim Sang-hun
* Kim Chang-wan as Lee Won-ik
* Kim Seung-wook as Lee Hang-bok
* Um Hyo-sup as Hong Yeong, Hong Joo-won's father
* Kim Young-im as Court Lady Jung
* Gong Myung as Ja-gyung
** Kang Chan-hee as young Ja-gyung

#### Other subordinates

* Ahn Nae-sang as Heo Gyun
* Lee Sung-min as Lee Duk-hyung
** Nam Da-reum as young Duk-hyung
* Park Ji-il as Kim Je-nam, Queen Inmok's father
* Jung Hae-kyun as Kang Hong-rib

### Cameo

* Park Won-sang as Jang Bong-soo
* Kim Kwang-kyu as Yi Yeong-bu
* Kwak Dong-yeon as Yi Ui-rip
* Jo Jae-ryong as Bang-Geun
* Lee Seung-hyung as Yi-seo
* Kim Hyun as Court Lady Inspector
* Hwang Young-hee as Ok-joo
* Baek Su-ryeon as Soo Ryun-gae
* Lee Jae-gu
* Kim Ki-bang as Gu-bok
* Kim Kyu-chul
* Kang Shin-il
* Jung Ji-so as Eun-seol
* Kang Dae-hyun as Su-Deok
* Kang Moon-young as Lady Yoon, Kang Joo-sun's wife
* Kim So-yi as Court Lady Choi
* Baek Soo-ryun as Soo Ryun-gae
* Jang Hyuk-jin as Maruno
* Jung Sung-woon as Hong Taiji
* Kim Joon-bae as Yong Gol-dae

## Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
| Episode # | Original broadcast date | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share | Average audience share |
| Episode # | Original broadcast date | TNmS Ratings | TNmS Ratings | AGB Nielsen | AGB Nielsen |
| Episode # | Original broadcast date | Nationwide | Seoul National Capital Area | Nationwide | Seoul National Capital Area |
| 1 | 2015/04/13 | 10.0% | 12.3% | 10.5% | 12.0% |
| 2 | 2015/04/14 | 10.5% | 12.4% | 11.8% | 12.8% |
| 3 | 2015/04/20 | 9.0% | 11.6% | 10.9% | 12.6% |
| 4 | 2015/04/21 | 10.4% | 12.6% | 10.8% | 12.1% |
| 5 | 2015/04/27 | 9.7% | 12.1% | 9.9% | 11.2% |
| 6 | 2015/04/28 | 10.0% | 12.0% | 10.9% | 11.6% |
| 7 | 2015/05/04 | 9.2% | 10.9% | 9.4% | 10.2% |
| 8 | 2015/05/05 | 9.9% | 12.0% | 10.3% | 11.7% |
| 9 | 2015/05/11 | 8.3% | 9.8% | 9.5% | 10.8% |
| 10 | 2015/05/12 | 9.3% | 10.6% | 10.1% | 11.4% |
| 11 | 2015/05/18 | 8.2% | 9.9% | 10.6% | 12.4% |
| 12 | 2015/05/19 | 9.2% | 11.2% | 11.4% | 13.0% |
| 13 | 2015/05/25 | 8.3% | 10.2% | 10.4% | 11.5% |
| 14 | 2015/05/26 | 8.9% | 10.2% | 11.0% | 12.2% |
| 15 | 2015/06/01 | 8.4% | 9.9% | 10.6% | 12.5% |
| 16 | 2015/06/02 | 9.1% | 11.2% | 10.2% | 11.6% |
| 17 | 2015/06/08 | 8.8% | 11.1% | 10.2% | 11.9% |
| 18 | 2015/06/09 | 11.0% | 13.4% | 11.0% | 12.7% |
| 19 | 2015/06/15 | 10.3% | 12.1% | 10.7% | 12.4% |
| 20 | 2015/06/16 | 9.3% | 11.1% | 11.0% | 12.5% |
| 21 | 2015/06/22 | 10.1% | 11.8% | 11.6% | 13.3% |
| 22 | 2015/06/23 | 9.9% | 12.1% | 10.7% | 12.2% |
| 23 | 2015/06/29 | 9.2% | 10.8% | 10.0% | 10.8% |
| 24 | 2015/06/30 | 9.7% | 12.0% | 9.8% | 10.8% |
| 25 | 2015/07/06 | 8.0% | 9.8% | 8.9% | 9.8% |
| 26 | 2015/07/07 | 8.4% | 10.3% | 8.8% | 9.8% |
| 27 | 2015/07/13 | 8.3% | 10.6% | 9.1% | 10.2% |
| 28 | 2015/07/14 | 7.6% | 9.2% | 9.8% | 10.8% |
| 29 | 2015/07/20 | 7.8% | 9.8% | 9.9% | 10.9% |
| 30 | 2015/07/21 | 9.4% | 10.9% | 11.4% | 12.3% |
| 31 | 2015/07/27 | 7.5% | 9.2% | 10.3% | 11.5% |
| 32 | 2015/07/28 | 9.2% | 10.4% | 10.3% | 11.5% |
| 33 | 2015/08/03 | 7.9% | 9.3% | 9.1% | 10.7% |
| 34 | 2015/08/04 | 9.2% | 9.9% | 9.8% | 11.0% |
| 35 | 2015/08/10 | 8.0% | 9.5% | 9.0% | 10.5% |
| 36 | 2015/08/11 | 8.6% | 9.6% | 10.7% | 12.4% |
| 37 | 2015/08/17 | 8.1% | 9.6% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| 38 | 2015/08/18 | 8.8% | 10.7% | 9.7% | 10.6% |
| 39 | 2015/08/24 | 7.9% | 8.7% | 8.8% | 10.5% |
| 40 | 2015/08/25 | 8.2% | 8.7% | 9.0% | 9.9% |
| 41 | 2015/08/31 | 7.3% | 7.3% | 8.5% | 9.5% |
| 42 | 2015/09/01 | 8.5% | 10.1% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| 43 | 2015/09/07 | 7.3% | 7.6% | 8.1% | 9.3% |
| 44 | 2015/09/08 | 7.3% | 7.8% | 8.3% | 9.1% |
| 45 | 2015/09/14 | 7.1% | 8.5% | 8.1% | 8.7% |
| 46 | 2015/09/15 | 8.7% | 10.3% | 10.8% | 12.2% |
| 47 | 2015/09/21 | 7.4% | 7.7% | 9.7% | 10.9% |
| 48 | 2015/09/22 | 8.3% | 9.3% | 10.5% | 12.1% |
| 49 | 2015/09/28 | 5.6% | 6.1% | 5.7% | 6.2% |
| 50 | 2015/09/29 | 6.2% | 7.2% | 7.8% | 8.8% |
| Average | Average | 8.7% | 10.2% | 9.9% | 11.1% |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2015 | 8th Korea Drama Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | Cha Seung-won | Nominated |
| 2015 | 8th Korea Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor | Seo Kang-joon | Nominated |
| 2015 | 8th Korea Drama Awards | Hot Star Award | Seo Kang-joon | Won |
| 2015 | 4th APAN Star Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama | Cha Seung-won | Nominated |
| 2015 | 23rd Korea Cultural Entertainment Awards | Best Actor Award, Drama | Kim Jaewon | Won |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | Cha Seung-won | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Special Project Drama | Cha Seung-won | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Special Project Drama | Kim Jaewon | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Special Project Drama | Lee Yeon-hee | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Special Project Drama | Jung Woong-in | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Best New Actor in a Special Project Drama | Seo Kang-joon | Nominated |
| 2015 | 34th MBC Drama Awards | Top 10 Stars Award | Cha Seung-won | Won |