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Heo Gyun is known as a historical figure who had been much talked about among government officials and scholars during the Joseon period. Let us now find out why he was at the center of attention back then and is still legendary to this day.

Heo Gyun was born into a noble family that had served in government positions for generations and famed for exhibiting excellence in scholarship. He followed the family tradition by beginning to study at an early age, was recognized for his gifted talents, and passed the national civil service exam with excellent marks. This sort of background made his success seem guaranteed. However, once he entered civil service, he caused all sorts of trouble. While he served as a rural county magistrate, he worshiped Buddha at the county office and drank or enjoyed entertainment with courtesans even when his parents passed away. He never cared to abide by Confucian principles or rules. Rather than associating with children from other noble families, Heo Gyun walked along the streets with bastard sons and middle or lower class people as he wrote poems and boisterously enjoyed having fun in their company. Moreover, he would invite such friends over to the county quarters and have them live there or looked after their livelihoods. These actions attracted attention from government officials and scholars and were always used as a source of criticism toward Heo Gyun. He did later manage to rise to a prominent position by gaining recognition from King Gwanghaegun, but that turned out to be a seed of misfortune. He was executed from being framed for plotting treason, which is how he was wrongfully disgraced and considered a traitor during the Joseon period.

A Traitor Immortalized in the History of Korean Literature

Heo Gyun authored many works. He left behind poems, essays, and even works about food or agriculture. The work that caused a sensation in late Joseon's popular literature was "Hong Gil-dong jeon," known as the Tale of Hong Gil-dong, which was the very first novel to have been authored in the Korean alphabet Hangeul and what immortalized Heo Gyun's name in the history of Korean literature.

Among Heo Gyun's essays were Hominnon (豪民論) and Yujaeron (遺才論). Hominnon classified people into three different types and described each of their tendencies. Hangmin (恒民) is the type that has no awareness and submissively follows orders given by the ruler. Wonmin (怨民) is the type that is displeased from being exploited by the ruling class and cheated by the corruption they commit, but never manage to act upon such displeasure. Homin (豪民) is the type that is always lurking in a hidden corner and acts out whenever an opportunity arises. Heo Gyun declared that Homin is the most dangerous type, more dangerous than tigers, so rulers should engage in fair politics because of people like that.

Through Yujaeron, Heo Gyun argued that talents should be appointed to government positions regardless of whether they are bastard sons or from the lower class. Handing out such positions according to factions would be moving away from society truly run by government officials. In other words, he denounced wrongful personnel policies carried out in Joseon by negating the social hierarchy of the times and insisting that more fair personnel policies be adopted. This line of thought was wholly projected through the protagonist Hong Gil-dong in his novel.

"Domundaejak" is a work by Heo Gyun that introduces the food of each of the eight provinces. When Heo Gyun was going through misfortunate times, he couldn't afford to eat well. So, he chose to give his work a title that means "smacking one's lips while passing by the butcher's doorstep." Scholars who studied Confucianism tended to author anthologies containing good-for-nothing theories of about Neo-Confucianism, but Heo Gyun wrote nothing of the sort and instead wrote about food. People criticized that the work was not worthy of a respectable scholar, but the very same work is nowadays used as a essential historical source for studying the history of Korean food.

The Poem Quoted by the Chinese President

Poems by Heo Gyun are very difficult to construe. Having been well-read in writings on the Hundred School of Thoughts (諸子百家) from China as well as other famous Chinese poems, they were all reflected in Heo Gyun's own works. That is why his works are recognized for their wealth of poetic diction and diverse themes. Rather than lyrics, Heo Gyun tended to write poems that project a certain theme and carries meaning, which is why he is more known as a writer of prose than as a poet. King Jeongjo of late Joseon is said to have been very fond of Heo Gyun's poems and they also came to be widely known in China. When the Chinese President Xi Jinping visited South Korea in 2015, he attracted attention by quoting a verse from one of Heo Gyun's poems that means "great friends sincerely illuminate one another" to highlight the friendly relations between South Korea and China.

There is an interesting story surrounding Heo Gyun's life as a poet. As a government official, he used to visit Buan while traveling around the Jeolla Province and he also used to live on the outskirts of Buan during his exile. That is how he came to meet the courtesan named Yi Mae-chang based in Buan and developed a platonic love for her as he exchanged poems with her. This story involving Heo Gyun and Yi Mae-chang spread nationwide at the time and became history as an example that shows Heo Gyun's disposition as a poet.

Meanwhile, as a progressive thinker, Heo Gyun studied various ideas including Chinese legalisms such as faija (法家) and xingjia (刑家) as well as the doctrines of Wang Yangming, which contested those of Chu Tzu. He was also responsible for being the first to pick up Catholicism in China and pass it on to Korea, which is a testament to how passionately he pursued the freedom of thought.

Heo Gyun is being newly reviewed nowadays as a progressive thinker, a reformer who tried to rid of inconsistencies in reality, a poet who contributed to Korean literature, and a writer who wrote fiction that enlightened the public. Indeed, any Korean is well aware of the name of Heo Gyun's famed protagonist Hong Gil-dong since it is the most frequently used example of a person's name in Korea today.

There is a legend set in Japan's Okinawa Islands, formerly referred to as the Ryuku Islands (琉球), about a figure named Hong Gawara. The legend's outline is that Hong Gawara came over to the islands from the mainland, founded a kingdom there, and became king. In Heo Gyun's "Hong Gil-dong jeon," Hong Gil-dong works for the Joseon government, then relocates to a faraway island to found a kingdom called Yuldoguk and becomes its king. Due to these similarities, some presume that the Yuldoguk that appears in "Hong Gil-dong jeon" is actually one of the Okinawa Islands.

If Heo Gyun had not been falsely accused of committing treason and executed for it, he may have went on to author many more works like Jeong Yak-yong and could have made greater contributions to thoughts and ideas in Korea. Heo Gyun would have been capable of writing something like Jeong Yak-yong's "Mokminsimseo" (牧民心書, The Mind of Governing the People), which is known to have been avidly read by Ho Chi Minh (胡志明) during his search for a way to prevent corruption after uniting Vietnam.