Kim Il-son

Kim Il-son (1464–1498) was a Joseon scholar, censor and state historian of the Gimhae Kim clan. While drafting the Annals of King Seongjong, he entered into his private notes the Lament for the Righteous Emperor, an essay by his teacher Kim Chong-jik that obliquely condemned King Sejo's seizure of the throne.

Seongjong had favored the Sarim scholars to check the Hungu faction, bringing the two groups into conflict. In 1498 Hungu officials uncovered Kim Il-son's notes, and Yu Ja-gwang reported the essay to King Yeonsangun.

The king condemned it as treason: Kim Il-son was executed, his dead teacher's body was exhumed and mutilated, and Sarim followers were killed or banished in the first literati purge.