Sindon

Sin Ton was a former Buddhist monk who rose to become a leading statesman under King Gongmin in late Goryeo. Through a special office for land and population reform, he sought to return farmland and enslaved people that powerful aristocratic families had seized to their rightful owners, aiming to strengthen royal authority and ease the burden on common people. His sweeping reforms provoked fierce resistance from the entrenched aristocracy, and he was ultimately executed in 1371. He remains a divisive figure, remembered by turns as a genuine reformer and as a "corrupting monk."