Hangul

Hangul is the alphabet used to write the Korean language. It is used in both South Korea and North Korea, though they use different names for it: North Korea calls it Chosŏn'gŭl. The script contains vowels and consonants, which are combined to form syllable blocks.

Before Hangul, Korean was written primarily in Chinese characters (hanja), a writing system restricted to the educated. Hangul was designed in the fifteenth century with the aim of creating a writing system suited to the sounds of Korean and easy to learn quickly.

History of its design

Hangul was created during the reign of King Sejong the Great of the Joseon dynasty. The script was first published in a document called the Hunminjeongeum, meaning "correct sounds for the instruction of the people". Another text, the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, explained the rationale behind the design of the letters.

For a long time after its creation, hanja-using scholars regarded Hangul as an inferior script. Its official adoption accelerated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, linked to educational and nationalist movements.

Structure

The shapes of consonant letters are explained as representing the place in the mouth where the sound is produced—such as the throat, nose, or lips. Vowel letters are based on straight and curved lines combined together. When writing, letters are not arranged in a simple line but grouped into syllable blocks, each standing for one syllable.

Modern usage

In South Korea, Hangul is the standard writing system, though hanja occasionally appears in academic texts, proper names, and places where meaning needs to be distinguished. North Korea removed hanja from official writing. South Korea observes an annual holiday commemorating the creation of the script.