"Smoking Gun" reflects on the death of Crown Prince Sado.
On a summer day in 1762, under the scorching sun, the body of a man was found in a wooden box placed in the center of a yard. The box was tightly fastened with nails that couldn't be opened and bound with ropes. Inside, the man gradually succumbed to death; this man was Crown Prince Sado, the son of King Yeongjo, the 21st king of Joseon. His death, which was unprecedented and shocking, was due to Sado having killed over 100 people during a span of five years, and even planning to kill his father, Yeongjo. But why did he do that?
Crown Prince Sado, who was exceptionally talented since childhood and bore his father's expectations wholly, started displaying bizarre behaviors one day. He would kill 6 people a day and engage in lewd activities with courtesans and monkesses day and night. The strangest thing was that he couldn't wear clothes. He would kill a servant who brought him clothes he didn't like. Kim Chang-yoon, a professor emeritus at Ulsan University College of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, diagnosed that all of this was due to Crown Prince Sado's "bipolar disorder." This tendency manifested in a violent and extreme manner due to King Yeongjo's excessive education and expectations.
Ahn Hyun-mo lamented, "He suffered immense pain from his father while alive, yet there was no place to rely on until the last moment." Furthermore, Lee Ji-hye noted, "King Yeongjo's excessive expectations of his son and forced learning since childhood do not appear much different from today," adding, "What Sado needed was perhaps a warm gaze from his father and a kind word, which is a pity."
The story of Crown Prince Sado, who met the most grotesque death in Joseon history while trying to kill his father, "I will take care of my ending - why did the father kill his son" will be revealed on the 13th at 9:45 p.m. on KBS2's "Smoking Gun."
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