King Minjung was the fourth monarch of Goguryeo who ruled the country from the year 44 to 48. His original name was Hae Saek-ju or Hae Eup-ju, and some scholars believe the king’s surname was Hae. According to the old history book, The History of the Three Kingdoms, he was the younger brother of the country’s third ruler, King Daemusin, and the fifth son of the second ruler, King Yuri. After King Daemuin’s death, his son Hae Woo was supposed to take over the throne. But the crown prince was too young to govern the state, so his uncle Hae Saek-ju was hailed as the next king. The crown prince later succeeded his uncle to become King Mobon, the fifth ruler. But in another history book, The Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, it states that King Minjung was the son of King Daemusin and the younger brother of King Mobon.

After King Minjung rose to the throne in the year 44, he released many prisoners. In spring the following year, he held a big feast for his subjects to signal the accession of the new king to the throne. In the same year, however, a flood in the eastern region caused people to starve and lose homes. The king opened the state food storage and distributed food to starving people. Unfortunately, the difficulty did not end there. In the year 46, there was a severe winter drought as there was no snowfall that season. While the king was able to avoid military conflicts with neighboring states and maintain peace during his rule, his short reign was plagued by several natural disasters, which were a great distress to the king. Before long, he became sick and stayed in bed. In the year 48, the fifth year of his reign, the king died of sickness.

The previous year, when the king went out hunting, he happened to find a stone grotto in an area called Minjungwon Hill in the western region of the country. He ordered his subjects to bury him there and not to build a royal tomb. His officials respected his wish and buried the king at the stone grotto. He was posthumously called King Minjung, named after the region where he was buried. He was succeeded by his nephew Hae Woo, who became King Mobon.

Historical records say that King Mobon, the fifth monarch of Goguryeo, was a good king at the beginning. Burning with an ambition to conquer China, he attacked the Han Dynasty of China several times in the year 49. But he later signed a peace treaty with the Han. After military expeditions, King Mobon believed that he was a great king and became corrupt. Some scholars say he sought to conquer China to demonstrate to his subjects how great he was. The History of the Three Kingdoms describes the king as a tyrannical and stubborn ruler who received a deluge of complaints from his people. In the year 53, he was assassinated by his own subject named Duro.

King Mobon proclaimed his son, Ik, as crown prince as soon as he came to power. But after his death, there was a power struggle within the court. A man named Gung, the grandson of Goguryeo’s second king Yuri, staged a coup and eventually became the sixth king, Taejo. This is why some scholars speculate that the records and image of King Mobon as a dictatorial and harsh ruler may have been fabricated by the supporters of King Taejo.