Jo Gwang-jo, known by his pen name Jeongam, was initially ordered to die by his own hand when the Gimyo Purge erupted in 1519. But through the earnest intervention of Chief State Councillor Jeong Gwang-pil, his sentence was commuted from execution to exile in Neungju. In sparing him from immediate execution, this outcome might have seemed a moment for relief — but that relief proved short-lived. Jo Gwang-jo was ultimately forced to take his own life at this very place of exile.
148 years later, in 1667 (the eighth year of King Hyeonjong's reign), Min Yeo-jo, the magistrate of Neungju, erected the Jeokryeoyuheobi monument to commemorate Jo Gwang-jo's exile. Standing 295 centimeters tall in total, the monument is complete with a tortoise-shaped base, stele body, and capstone, though the tortoise base is not finely carved but instead crafted from a natural rock shaped only roughly into form — a modest, unadorned rendering. The front of the stele bears, in large incised characters, an inscription commemorating "Master Jeongam Jo Gwang-jo's Site of Exile," while the back records the history of his banishment. The inscription itself was composed by Song Si-yeol, who would later become a leading figure of the Noron political faction, with the front lettering written by Min Yu-jung and the back by Song Jun-gil. The story of a statesman who once escaped a death sentence ultimately came to rest in the form of a single monument, erected at the very spot where he breathed his last.