Soseong of Silla

Soseong (died 800) (r. 798–800) was the 39th to rule the Korean kingdom of Silla. He was the grandson of King Wonseong, his father Kim In-gyeom having died before he could take the throne. He married Lady Gyehwa, the daughter of the daeachan Suk-myeong.

Soseong died about seventeen months after taking the throne. On his deathbed, King Soseong, he called his younger brothers, including Eonseung, and told them that he would hand over the throne to his son as his grandfather had wished, and that they should respect the succession. Aejang succeeded Soseong and remained king until 809, when he was killed by his uncle Eonseung, which brought on a renewal of the succession strife which typified later Unified Silla.^[1]

Soseong of Silla, who was raised in the royal court before he ascended the throne, was appointed daeachan in 789 and went to the Tang dynasty as an envoy that year. He was appointed sijung in October 791, but left the post due to illness in August 792 and became head of the Ministry of War. When his uncle Uiyoung died in February 794, he was proclaimed Crown Prince in the year 795.^[2]