Taejong, whose father is unwilling to pass over the royal seal he needs for recognition, begins to initiate policies he believe will prove his intelligence and right to rule.
One of his first acts as king had been to abolish the privilege enjoyed by the upper echelons of government and the aristocracy to maintain private armies.
His revoking of such rights to field independent forces has effectively severed their ability to muster large-scale revolts, and has drastically increased the number of men employed in the national military.
As part of a cultural project, a map of the world, the Kangnido (the full Hanja name means "Map of Integrated Lands and Regions of Historical Countries and Capitals"), is created under the supervision of two high Korean officials, and the Confucian scholar Kwon Kun.
It is the second oldest surviving world map from East Asia, after the similar Chinese Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, part of a tradition begun in the 1320s when geographical information about western countries became available via Islamic scholars in the Mongol empire.
It depicts the general form of the Old World, from Africa and Europe in the west to Japan in the east.
Although, overall, it is less geographically accurate than its Chinese cousin, most obviously in the depiction of rivers and small islands, it does feature some improvements (particularly the depictions of Korea and Japan, and a less cramped version of Africa).
