Seondeok III

Seondeok III (5 August, 1894 - 5 September, 2002) Was the Empress of Korea Between 1922 And 1984, when she abdicated to her son, Kyongtaek

### Relatives

Muyong (Father)Kyongtaek (Son)

Hanul (Brother)

## Life

### Early Life

Seondeok III Was born in 1894, Daughter of Muyong, who served as Emperor of Korea.

Seondeok was nearly the queen consort of the Commonwealth, being betrothed at a young age to Boleslaw. However, when her brother Hanul passed in 1910, the betrothal was broken, and Seondeok became the next in line to the Korean empire. Like her father Muyong, Seondeok concerned herself with academics, and received a degree in theoretical physics from the Macedonian University in Thessaloniki.

### Reign as Emperor

Upon her father's death in 1922, Seondeok took the throne as "Seondeok III, First Empress Regnant of the Korean Empire" and immediately faced backlash from the male establishment in Korea, who viewed both her regnal name and the styling she presented as contrary to the values of Korea. With this, she began purging the Korean political establishment.

Having converted to Chalcedonian Christianity while studying in Macedonia, Seondeok began staffing her court with Christians, mostly of the Korean variety with a few Chinese, Japanese, Manchu and European Christian advisors. Though it was often remarked that a patriarchal religion such as Christianity would inhibit her legitimacy, rather than aid it, Seondeok relied heavily on propaganda which framed her as a simple woman acting with divine guidance, and transcended the female element of her reign by instead insinuating that it was the Abrahamic God, not Seondeok, who had the ultimate authority in Korea, and that Seondeok acted as the conduit by which God ruled and enlightened the Korean people to the one true faith.

in her long reign from 1922 until her abdication to her son Kyongtaek in 1984, Korea went from a nation with a majority Buddhist population, to a nation with a Christian plurality (a trend which would continue until 1998, when Christianity became the majority religion in Korea).

Despite the loss of Manchuria and the Korean Japanese Concessions, and the transformation of the Korean Empire into the Kingdom of Korea with a democratically elected parliament, Seondeok remained a popular queen, both as an absolute leader, and as a constitutional figurehead, and her long reign saw the greatest transformation of Korean society since its initial westernization.

### Post-abdication

Seondeok lived to be 108 years old, dying a month after he 108th birthday. She often joked that she intended to enjoy at least 10 years of retirement, and her passing was reported as a major news story globally.

### Legacy

Seodenok's long life span was seen as having been a clear resource on the globally transformative 20th century. and many documentaries in nearly every major language were made on her and her life.

Seondeok never viewed herself as fortunate to inherit the Korean Empire, often remarking in her private writings about the difficult tasks which befell her daily, and the uphill battle towards legitimacy she faced within her nation. However, much like Bernadotte in Holland, Seondeok became a very popular female monarch in Korea, reaching near cult-like status within the nation.

## Personal Life

### Religion

Though it is well documented that Seondeok was a fairly religious woman, it is fiercely debated whether she truly believed that she ruled by divine right and guidance, wished to convert Korea to Christianity, used the message to legitimize her rule, or if a combination of all 3 properly described her intentions.