조선 태종은 왜 李茂를 죽였을까 (Why did King Taejong order the assassination of Yi Mu?)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 서울대학교 규장각한국학연구원
· 수록지 정보 : 규장각 / 50호 / 1 ~ 32페이지
· 저자명 : 남지대

초록

태종은 병권에 오래 간여한 李茂(1355~1409.10.)를 외척 민무구 형제와 함께 정치세력을 형성할 만한 핵심으로 보아오다, 이지성 인사 건을 계기로 그를 죽였다. 이무는 정사․좌명 1등공신으로 우정승(1401.7.~03.4.)과 영승추부사(1403.7~05.1.)를 지내며 중군도총제를 겸하였고, 1407년 7월 다시 우정승이 되어 9월 世子朝見에 輔行하였다.
이무의 죄목은 1409년 10월 태종이 밝힌 국문할 내용으로, 충성을 믿을 수 없음과 난신 민무구 형제와 연결되었다는 것이다. 무와 행정 능력으로 오랫동안 병권에 간여했으나 충성을 온전히 믿을 수 없는 이무가 세자의 외삼촌 민무구 형제와 연결되었다 판단하여 죽인 셈이다. 1409년 5월 우정승 이무가 보고 없이 이지성의 관작을 올려준 것이 계기였다. 태종은 7월 초 이무를 우정승에서 파면했고, 7월 말 聽政하지 않겠다며 대신들에게 크고 작은 일을 처리하라 하여 그 잘못을 드러냈고, 8월의 禪位 선언 때 삼군진무소로 병권의 제도적 장악을 확인한 뒤 8월 말 王旨를 내려 의정부가 대간으로 하여금 고발하도록 하였다. 고발이 없자, 태종은 9월 초 민무구 형제가 세자 외의 왕자를 없애자는 말을 하였다는 것을 재론하였다. 옥사가 번져서 9월 26일 대간이 이무의 죄를 6가지로 지적하였고, 27일 이무를 순금사에 내렸다. 10월 1일 태종이 이무의 잘못을 설명하여 대질하는 국문을 거쳐, 3일 창원부에 귀양보냈다가 5일 사람을 보내 쫓아가 죽주에서 죽였다.
제도를 개혁하여 大臣의 병권 간여를 통제하고 병권 장악을 바탕으로 정치세력을 형성할 가능성을 차단하여 왔기 때문에, 태종이 이무를 죽인 것은 자신에게만 충성을 오롯이 하지 않은 신하에 대한 본보이기 懲戒로 보인다. 의리를 표방하고 강제하는 조선의 왕권이 성립한 것이다.

영어초록

King Taejong of the Choseon dynasty, who had usurped the throne through a coup d'etat, was ever vigilant lest he lose control of the dynastic military power or independent political forces grow around some political leaders. In this connection he kept a close watch on Yi Mu (1355~Oct. 1409), who had long been concerned with military affairs, as one of the most likely prospects for such a leadership, along with Min Mu-gu and his brothers. When it was revealed that Yi had abused his right of personnel management, Taejong seized an opportunity to have him murdered. Yi Mu had been designated as one of the first grade “‘Jeong-sa’ and Jwa-myong’ Merit Subjects.” And he had served as a vice-premier and also as the head of the Privy Council, while holding the post of one of the supreme commanders in the army simultaneously. At the apogee of his official career, for instance, he was appointed vice-premier on July 1407, and two months later he accompanied the then Crown Prince of the Choseon dynasty on his trip to China, the purpose of which was to do homage to the Chinese emperor.
Accusations against Yi Mu made by Taejong were largely two-fold: first, his allegiance to him was suspect; second, he had close ties to the rebellious Min Mu-gu and his brothers who were maternal uncles of the Crown Prince. Those two factors combine to render Yi, in the eyes of Taejong, guilty enough to deserve death penalty. The turning-point of Yi's lot was his decision to raise Yi Ji-seong’s government office and court rank on May 1409 without the throne's approval. On early July 1409 Taejong dismissed Yi Mu from the post of vice-premier. Before the end of the same month Taejong had occasion to highlight Yi’s guilt. When Taejong announced his intention to abdicate the throne the next month, he reaffirmed and consolidated government control of military power. On early September 1409 Taejong brought out again his suspicion that the Min brothers had sought to assassinate all of his sons except the Crown Prince. This incident gave birth to a major criminal case, in which Yi Mu was impeached by a censor for committing six types of crimes. Yi was subsequently imprisoned. On the first day of the next month Taejong personally supervised the inquiry into Yi’s crimes, which went through due process at least nominally. Yi was found guilty and was then exiled to a remote place two days later. Two days later again he was murdered on his way to the place of exile by assassins sent by the king.
King Taejong had long made a point of precluding high-ranking officials from having a voice in military affairs by means of a series of reforms of government organizations. Such a measure was obviously designed to rule out the possibility of the emergence of independent political forces. From this point of view, the assassination of Yi Mu by Taejong is to be taken as a punishment inflicted upon a government official for a failure to direct his loyalty exclusively toward the king.

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