The ruling family in Korea for the roughly five hundred years from 1392 to 1910 was the house of Yi. The dynasty was founded, as were all ruling families in northeast Asia, by an ambitious general. In China, such dynastic changes had occurred with cyclical frequency; in Korea, only twice in a span of two thousand years. By 1368, the Ming dynasty of China had ousted the Mongols with suspicion the fluctuations in allegiance of the Korean king, who as by birth more Mongol than Korean and who attempted to remain on good terms with bother sides. One of the Korean generals of the time, Song - Ge Yi, was popular in Korea because of his success in suppressing Japanese piracy and Manchu raids. With the permission from the Ming emperor, who investiture the Yi household as the new royal family of Korea, General Yi overthrew the last Koryo King.

During...