Choe Yeong
One of the most influential Easterners, Yi Bal, died under torture, as did his brothers. Jeong Gaecheong, the adopted son of the Westerner minister Park Sun, was also exiled because he had betrayed his adopted father to side with the Easterners. A highly controversial death was that of Choe Yeong-gyeong. Jeong Yeo-rib claimed the existence of an entity named 'Gil Sam-bong', who to lead the rebellion. Despite the testimonies about 'Gil Sambong' not being matched on crucial topics like age, height, or appearance, the search for him continued. One of the Westerner advisers claimed that Choe Yeong-gyeong, an Easterner scholar of Honam, was in fact the 'Gil Sambong'. Choe died under torture in 1590. Killing a thousand Easterners, more than the four literary purges combined, the purge furthered the distance of the two factions as eternal enemies.