Hangul

Hangul (??) is the native alphabet used to write the Korean language, as opposed to the Hanja system borrowed from China. For other Romanized spellings of "Hangul", please see Names below.

History

Hangul was promulgated by the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong the Great. Some people suspect that such a complex project must have been developed under his guidance by a team of researchers, but historical records show that his staff of scholars actually strongly denounced the promulgation for not having consulted with them. There are some indications that King Sejong may have been assisted by his family members, who worked in secret because of the opposition by the educated elite. The system was completed in 1443 or January 1444, and published in 1446 in a document entitled Hunmin Jeong-eum, after which the alphabet was named. The publication date of Hunmin jeong-eum, October 9, is Hangul Day in South Korea. Its North Korean equivalent is on January 15.

Related Topics:
Joseon Dynasty - Sejong the Great - 1443 - January - 1444 - 1446 - Hunmin Jeong-eum - October 9 - Hangul Day - South Korea - North Korea - January 15

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An old legend holds that King Sejong visualized the written characters after studying an intricate lattice, but this speculation was put to rest by the discovery in 1940 of the 1446 Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye (Explanations and Examples of Hunmin jeong-eum). This document details the rationale for the letter designs. (See jamo design.)

Related Topics:
Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye - Jamo design

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King Sejong explained that he created the new script because the Chinese characters used to write Korean speech were inaccurate and difficult to learn for the common people. (Hence the name Hunmin Jeong-eum, which means "Correct Sounds for the Education of the People" in Sino-Korean). At that time, only male members of the aristocracy (Yangban) learned to read and write Hanja. Since written material was only available in Hanja, most Koreans were effectively illiterate. Hangul faced heavy opposition by the literate elite, who believed Hanja to be the only legitimate writing system. The protest by Choe Man-ri and other Confucians in 1444 is a typical example.

Related Topics:
Sino-Korean - Yangban - Hanja - Choe Man-ri

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Later the government became apathetic to Hangul. Yeonsan-gun, the 10th king, forbade the study or use of Hangul and banned Hangul documents in 1504, and King Jungjong abolished the Ministry of Eonmun in 1506. Until this time Hangul had been used by women and the uneducated.

Related Topics:
Yeonsan-gun - King Jungjong

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In late 19th century, Korean nationalism increased as Japan attempted to sever Korea from China's sphere of influence. Hangul began to be considered as a national symbol by some reformists. As a result of the Gab-o Reform (?? ??) by pro-Japanese politicians, Hangul was adopted in official documents for the first time in 1894. After Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, Hangul was briefly taught in schools, but later banned as Japan enforced a cultural assimilation policy.

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