Namgyeong

The geomancers had their way only after Goryeo itself fell. King Gongmin began repairing the palace at Hanyang in 1356 for a move of the court, but gave up in 1360 after many of the labourers froze to death, and the two later kings who did move here, in 1382 and 1390, were each back in Gaegyeong within months. The move was made at last by Yi Seong-gye, founder of the Joseon dynasty, who brought his court to Hanyang in 1394 and renamed it Hanseong. The palace of Gyeongbokgung was finished the next year and a wall was raised around the city, which by the early 15th century held about 100,000 people; it was at Gyeongbokgung that Sejong the Great had the Korean alphabet, Hangul, created. During the Japanese invasion of 1592 all three palaces of the capital burned, and Gyeongbokgung, for want of money after the war, was left in ruins.