In 1446 King Sejong the Great (r. 1419-1450) introduced a new alphabet in Korea to replace the Chinese characters, known in Korean as Hanja. The Hall of Worthies were a group of scholars selected by the King and they helped to create the new alphabet. It is, however, believed that Sejong was the chief architect. Sejong's alphabet was published in a manual called Hunmin Chongum, or "proper sound to instruct the people". The alphabet was originally named after the book, though it's now called Hangul, or "great script". The new name was adopted in the early 1910s and in the face of Japanese rule the name had nationalistic connotations
The Need for the Creation of the Hangul Alphabet
In the Hunmin Chongum Sejong stated the reasons behind creating a new alphabet. He said, "Being of foreign origin, Chinese characters are incapable of capturing uniquely Korean meanings". Korean and Chinese are not related, therefore trying to write what Koreans say with Chinese characters was nigh-on impossible.
Within Korea the ability to read Hanja was seen as a reflection of one's social standing since only privileged Koreans had sufficient time and education to learn the characters. Sejong attempted to introduce an alphabet that the common man could learn.
In the 2,000 years prior to the introduction of Hangul, China had greatly influenced Korean society. Under Sejong Korea was seeking cultural independence and Sejong thought that having their own alphabet would help provide it.
Opposition to the Hangul Alphabet
Despite the obvious benefits to Korean society, Hangul was universally accepted. The nobles who held powerful positions and were capable of reading Hanja opposed the introduction of the new alphabet.
They believed it challenged the culture that had long been established in Korea and perhaps they feared it would ultimately challenge their privileged way of life. Many nobles didn't want universal literacy—the very thing Sejong was aiming for—because they believed that the general public would become dangerous if they had the ability to read and write.
Hangul was perceived to be too easy to learn. At a time when women were uneducated it's critics mockingly called it Amkul, or "women's letters", because even women would be able to learn it.
In 1504 King Yeonsangun banned the use of Hangul after the Kapja revolt.
The Continued Use of Hanja
The learned still continued using Hanja and few of them bothered to learn Hangul at all. Even if they did learn and write using Hangul they would still write Chinese loan words in Hanja. As a result, Hangul didn't initially become the replacement that Sejong hoped it would be.
It wasn't until around the 1880s that Hangul started to become more prominent. Japanese became the official language of Korea in 1910 when it became a Japanese colony. During the next 35 years of Japanese rule some Koreans defiantly used Hangul as a way to preserve and forge their own identity.
Hangul in the Modern Koreas
At the end of the Second World War Hangul became the standard form of written communication in Korea and the use of Hanja decreased. In North Korea very little Hanja is used and Chosongul—as Hangul is known in the North—is used almost exclusively, though Hanja are still learnt and are still seen as an indicator of one's position within society.
South Korea currently uses a mixed script of Hangul and Hanja. Unlike Japanese, which still uses Chinese characters for Japanese vocabulary, Hanja is no longer used to convey Korean vocabulary.
Hangul Day and Chosongul Day are celebrated in in South Korea and North Korea respectively. The day commemorates the invention of the alphabet. In South Korea it is observed on October 9, believed to be the day Sejong published the Hunmin Chongum, whilst it is observed on January 15 in North Korea because of the belief that the Hunmin Chonum was actually completed on that day in 1444.
Hangul also has co-official status in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, a small region in north-eastern China on the North Korean border.
Sources:
- Roger Fischer, Roger A History of Writing, Reaktion Books (2003)
- Hannas, Wm. C. Asia's Orthographic Dilemma, University of Hawai'i Press (1997)
- Song, Jae Jung The Korean Language: Structure, use and context, Routledge (2005)
- Connor, Mary E. The Koreas, ABC-CLIO (2009)
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