[Edaily Starin Gim Ga Yeong Reporter] It has been revealed that mountaineer Eom Hong-gil is a descendant of Eom Heung-do.

On the TV Chosun program “What Did the King Eat?”, airing on the 12th, viewers will see King Danjong’s meal—one that is impossible to watch without tears—alongside Eom Hong-gil, a descendant of Eom Heung-do, the “loyal minister” who handled the final moments of King Danjong’s life.
The episode will reveal the meal served to King Danjong during his exile—a scene that moved many to tears in the blockbuster film *The Man Who Lived with the King*, which grossed 10 million viewers. Mountaineer Eom Hong-gil, who appeared as a guest on the show, is a descendant of Eom Heung-do, the hero of Yeongwol who risked his life to recover King Danjong’s body. “Thanks to my ancestor, many people have taken an interest and begun to think about Yeongwol,” he said, sharing his thoughts on participating in the segment featuring King Danjong’s meal.
King Danjong was exiled to “Cheongnyeongpo” in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, by Prince Suyang. Having visited Cheongnyeongpo himself, Eom Hong-gil expressed his sorrow, saying, “It’s heart-wrenching. It may be surrounded by nature, but it’s essentially a prison. It’s deep in the mountains, layer upon layer.”
When King Danjong passed away at the age of 16, Grand Prince Suyang issued an imperial decree stating, “Whoever retrieves King Danjong’s body shall have their entire family—three generations—exterminated.” Consequently, no one dared approach King Danjong’s body, which had been cast into the river. However, Eom Hong-gil’s ancestor, Eom Heung-do, was different. Eom Hong-gil explained, “When King Danjong passed away, Eom Heung-do, along with his two sons, went to recover the body. It is said that a large deer was lying flat on its belly right there. Since the snow had melted in that spot and the ground was easy to dig, they built a tomb where the deer had lain—and that became King Danjong’s tomb, ‘Jangneung.’”
“What Did the King Eat?” is a program that serves up a “delicious history book” that captivates both the eyes and the palate, featuring everything from the royal family’s top-secret tonics to forbidden delicacies that shook the era, along with the astonishing stories hidden within them. The show currently features Choi Tae-sung, Yang Sang-guk, Shin Giru, Ji Ye-eun, and Lee Yeon-ju.