Joseon factionalism blunts warning of invasion

King Seonjo often deferred to the last adviser he heard while increasingly hostile scholarly factions competed for influence at court. Westerners and Easterners divided over reform before the Easterners split again into Northern and Southern factions, with further subdivision following. Rival envoys sent to investigate Japan interpreted the same troop buildup in opposite ways: one warned of invasion, while the other dismissed the danger and favored further military cuts. The episode shows how institutions can possess warning information yet fail to act when factional victory matters more than national preparation. The factions aimed to disgrace or remove their opponents, which made an agreed threat assessment especially difficult.