Heungseon Daewongun, also known as the Daewongun, Guktaegong or formally Internal King Heungseon Heonui and also known to contemporary western diplomats as Prince Gung, was the title of Yi Ha-eung, the regent of Joseon during the minority of Emperor Gojong in the 1860s and until his death a key political figure of late Joseon Korea.
Daewongun literally translates as "prince of the great court", a title customarily granted to the father of the reigning monarch when that father did not reign himself. While there had been three other Daewonguns during the Joseon dynasty, there was no one as dominant as Yi Ha-eung in the history of the Joseon dynasty that the term Daewongun usually refers specifically to him.
Grand Internal Prince Heungseon had to solve the difficult problems of a new world historical trend and reconstruction of the impoverished nation at once. The Daewongun is remembered for the wide-ranging reforms he attempted during his regency, as well as for his "vigorous enforcement of the seclusion policy, persecution of Christians, and the killing or driving off of foreigners who landed on Korean soil".