IN THE JOSEON Dynasty, kings normally left the palace only for special occasions, mostly for paying a visit to their ancestors’ tombs. While most kings made royal visits once or twice a year, Jeongjo usually made three visits a year, and during his twenty-four-year reign, he made sixty-six visits, half of them to his father’s tomb. For instance, after the relocation of his father’s tomb to the foot of Mt Hwasan in 1789, Jeongjo visited Hwaseong in the first or second month of every year with his officials to pay respects to his father.

Why did Jeongjo make such frequent royal visits? Of course, he might have wanted to show his filial piety for his father, but the details of his trips suggest that his royal visits had another purpose. During his trips, Jeongjo heard 3,355 cases of appeals from ordinary people, which means he settled an average of fifty-one cases of civil complaints per trip. Unlike officials and scholars, who could present a petition to the king, ordinary people had no other way but to appeal directly to the king. Therefore, in the late Joseon Dynasty, every king allowed people to make complaints directly to the king, but statistics show that Jeongjo was the most enthusiastic in meeting with the people, eager to listen to them.