The Kingdom of Joseon was founded in 1392 by Taejo of Joseon and ended in 1897 with the founding of the Empire of Korea. Gojong was the last King of Joseon and became the first Emperor of Korea. The Empire of Korea ended in 1910, but the claim continues to this day. The Queens/Empresses mentioned here are consorts, save the very last claim, and thus not Queens in their own right. Any titles after the end of the monarchy are titular.
Emperor Gojong was forced to abdicate in favour of his eldest surviving son, Sunjong, in 1907. Sunjon was intellectually disabled. He had married in 1882 to Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan, but she died in 1904 before he became Emperor. She received the posthumous title of
Empress Sunmyeong. In 1907, he remarried to Yun Jeung-sun of the Haepyeong Yun clan, who was later known as Empress Sunjeonghyo. He had no children by either of his wives.
The Korean Empire was abolished on 29 August 1910 by the Japanese annexation of Korea. This made Empress Sunjeonghyo the last Empress of Korea. She and her husband lived the rest of their lives in virtual imprisonment in Changdeokgung Palace in present-day Seoul. The last Emperor died on 24 April 1926, and his claim to the Korean throne was inherited by his half-brother, Crown Prince Yi Un.
Crown Prince Yi Un had married the Japanese Princess Masako of Nashimoto in 1920, and after he succeeded to the claim, she was known as Her Royal Highness Princess Masako, Queen Yi. She is better known as Bangja, Crown Princess Euimin. She was thus the first titular Empress of Korea. They had two sons together, of whom only the younger would survive to adulthood. The couple was destitute and lived in Japan.
In 1963, they were allowed to return to Korea and live in the Changdeok Palace. However, Crown Prince Euimin was already in ill health, and he died on 1 May 1970. His claim was inherited by his only surviving son, Crown Prince Yi Gu. He had married the Ukrainian-American Julia Mullock in 1959, but they would not have any children together. They did adopt a daughter, Eugenia. The couple divorced in 1982 after his family pressured him due to their childlessness. Nevertheless, he never remarried, and he died on 16 July 2005.
According to the Jeonju Lee Royal Family Association, Yi Gu had appointed Yi Won, a great-grandson of Gojong of Korea, as his heir. However, two more disputed claims exist.
Yi Won was born in 1962, and he is married to Cho Tŭng-hak. They have two children together, including an heir, Yi Kwon. If the claim of Yi won is recognised, his wife Cho Tŭng-hak would be the current titular Empress of Korea.
Another claimant is Yi Seok. He was born in 1941 and was married three times. His current wife is Kyung Sook Lee. He has two daughters, and there are some reports that he passed his claim to someone else in 2021 or 2022. If this is not true and his claim is recognised, the current titular Empress of Korea would be his wife, Kyung Sook Lee.
The third claimant was Yi Hae-won. She was the second daughter of Prince Imperial Ui, the fifth son of Emperor Gojong of Korea, and she contested the claim of Yi Won, her nephew. She married Yi Seung-gyu and had four children with him. She died on 8 February 2020. It does not appear that she chose a successor to her claim.
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