Hyoso of Silla

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Hyoso of Silla
Hangul:	효소왕
Hanja:	孝昭王
Revised Romanization:	Hyoso Wang
McCune-Reischauer:	Hyoso Wang
Birth name
Hangul:	이홍 or 공
Hanja:	理洪 or 恭
Revised Romanization:	Ihong or Gong
McCune-Reischauer:	Ihong or Kong

Monarchs of Korea
Silla (Post-Unification) 30. Munmu 661-681 31. Sinmun 681-691 32. Hyoso 692-702 33. Seongdeok 702-737 34. Hyoseong 737-742 35. Gyeongdeok 742-765 36. Hyegong 765-780 37. Seondeok 780-785 38. Wonseong 785-798 39. Soseong 798-800 40. Aejang 800-809 41. Heondeok 809-826 42. Heungdeok 826-836 43. Huigang 836-838 44. Minae 838-839 45. Sinmu 839 46. Munseong 839-857 47. Heonan 857-861 48. Gyeongmun 861-875 49. Heongang 875-886 50. Jeonggang 886-887 51. Jinseong 887-897 52. Hyogong 897-912 53. Sindeok 913-917 54. Gyeongmyeong 917-924 55. Gyeongae 924-927 56. Gyeongsun 927-935

Hyoso (r. 692-702) was the thirty-second monarch of Silla, a kingdom that flourished on the Korean peninsula from approximately 200 to 927 CE. He was the eldest son of King Sinmun and his second queen consort Sinmok 神穆. He reigned for a decade and died of illness in the Silla capital in the autumn of 702.

Hyoso's reign was characterized by a continuing trend towards centralization following Silla's unification of the peninsula. Like his father, Hyoso faced some opposition in the form of revolts by high-ranking members of the Silla aristocracy. In the summer of 700, for instance, the ichan (a high rank in Silla's strict bone rank system) Gyeong-yeong 慶永 was implicated in treasonous plots and executed. These machinations also apparently involved Silla's Chief Minister of State, who was removed from office.^[1]

Relations with Tang also saw improvement during Hyoso's reign following the diplomatic disintegration that followed in the wake of the wars of unification during the 660s and 670s and the foundering of the Tang-Silla alliance. Tribute relations were steadily maintained and Hyoso, as Sinmun before him, was "enfeoffed" by the Tang emperor as King of Silla.

A few citations in the record of King Hyoso in the 12th century Korean history Samguk Sagi also attest to steady diplomatic contact with Japan, and Japanese histories (notably the Shoku Nihongi) are reliable sources for confirming death dates of Silla's kings and queens during this period, as Japan would often hear of their deaths through diplomatic envoys.

King Hyoso died in 792. Because he had no son he was succeeded by his younger full brother who reigned as King Seongdeok.