Inbin Kim
concubine of King Seonjo (1555 - 1613)

Inbin Kim (Korean: 인빈 김씨; Hanja: 仁嬪 金氏; 31 March 1555 – 30 November 1613), or Concubine In, of the Suwon Kim clan, was a consort of Seonjo of Joseon and the biological grandmother of King Injo.
Life
Early life
Lady Kim was born in the Suwon Kim clan as the daughter of Kim Han-u (김한우) and his wife. Her maternal grandfather was of the royal Jeonju Yi clan as a descendant of Grand Prince Hyoryŏng, King Taejong's second son; this made Lady Kim a distant cousin of King Seonjo. Her elder sister's daughter later became Sowon Shin, a relatively low-ranked consort of Gwanghaegun.
Royal consort
Concubine Gyeong, one of Lady Kim's cousins, who was a consort of King Myeongjong, raised her in the palace. Lady Kim caught the eye of King Seonjo's adoptive mother, Queen Insun, who recommended her to the king as a consort. In 1573, Lady Kim was appointed as a royal consort of the junior fourth rank (숙원; 淑媛; sugwon), the lowest rank of the king's consorts. She was promoted in the following years, finally rising in 1604 to the senior first rank (빈; 嬪; pin), with the honorific title in (인; 仁), meaning "benevolence".
During her time spent in the palace, she gave birth to four sons and five daughters; her first son died young. The king favoured her second son, Prince Shinseong, hoping to make him crown prince.
The public source identifies “Inbin Kim” as concubine of King Seonjo (1555 - 1613). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Inbin, concubine and King.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Inbin Kim”, the useful work is to connect “concubine of King Seonjo (1555 - 1613)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6855022. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1555, 1613, 1573 and 1604.
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This entry incorporates text from “Inbin Kim” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.