'Smoky Gun' revealed that the death of Crown Prince Sohyeon was due to illness, not poisoning.

On the morning of the 23rd, a press briefing for the 100th special episode of KBS 2TV's 'Smoky Gun' was held at the KBS headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. At this event, broadcaster Ahn Hyun-mo, Professor Yoo Seong-ho, and Producer Kim Jong-seok attended and discussed the 100th episode of 'Smoky Gun'.

'Smoky Gun' is a current affairs program that provides vivid accounts from investigators to uncover the hidden truths at crime scenes that evolve cunningly like the evidence pointing to the culprit.

What was the most impressive case during the time leading up to the 100th episode? Ahn Hyun-mo began, "There have obviously been numerous cases since we've aired over 100 episodes, so some remain memorable. Before each recording, we often say, 'Today's case is so sad,' or 'Today's case is so shocking.' To mention one significant case, there was an instance where we made a new attempt. There has been much historical discussion around the death of Crown Prince Sohyeon, and because Professor Yoo Seong-ho wrote a related paper, although it was a very old incident, 'Smoky Gun' covered it before."

He noted, "Our Director General leveraged his experience in historical programs to carefully manage stage production and content selection. Initially, it felt unfamiliar, but since this wasn't a murder case and not a recent incident, I thought it was an amazing attempt. After doing it, I realized it was a new attempt. 'Smoky Gun' aims to find crucial clues when there are unexplained deaths or causes of death. This particular episode, which approached a well-known anecdote a bit differently to hypothesize the cause of death, seems to showcase the potential to expand the future scope of 'Smoky Gun.'"

In fact, Professor Yoo Seong-ho has written a paper stating that Crown Prince Sohyeon's death was due to illness and not poisoning. Relatedly, Professor Yoo noted, "If you watch the movie 'The Owl,' it seems like King Injo assassinated Crown Prince Sohyeon. Since the first paper came out in the 1950s, this topic has been quite popular among the public for a long time. My wife found the movie very serious and interesting, which made me question its authenticity, so I reviewed the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the Royal Secretariat Diaries. Nowadays, the internet is so good that I extracted his illness details and wrote a paper for the Korean Journal of Forensic Medicine regarding Crown Prince Sohyeon's death. You can easily find it by searching Google for 'Crown Prince Sohyeon Yoo Seong-ho.' I wrote it quite straightforwardly. He had originally been a bit sick. He had been unwell since it was difficult for him to move due to the Second Manchu Invasion of Korea. I think he likely suffered from Type 1 diabetes or Sjögren's syndrome. While I cannot confirm this, I did write that it was not poisoning. The producer suggested we explore this topic."

In response, Ahn Hyun-mo stated, "After we covered Crown Prince Sohyeon, shortly after, we also addressed the death of Crown Prince Sado. It is a story known by the entire nation, and that time was in May, the month of family. Considering the struggles faced by many children these days, I thought it would be seasonally appropriate to cover Crown Prince Sado as well. I think there will be countless opportunities to explore mysterious deaths buried in history or investigate cases of famous people that merit revisiting in the future."

'Smoky Gun' airs every Tuesday at 9:45 p.m.

[Photo] Provided by KBS.

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