[News Terms] Hangul Day, Was It Not Originally October 9?

October 9th, Hangul Day, is a national holiday commemorating the creation and dissemination of Hangul, our Korean alphabet, and promoting its excellence. This year marks its 578th anniversary. It originated from 'Gagyanal,' designated on the lunar calendar date of September 29th in 1926.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold the '2024 Hangeul Week' event at Gwanghwamun Square and the National Hangeul Museum to commemorate the 578th Hangeul Day. On the opening day, the 4th, various Hangeul Week-related events are being prepared at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

The Background of Setting Hangul Day

There were many twists and turns in deciding October 9th as Hangul Day. According to the National Institute of the Korean Language, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty contain almost no records related to the creation of Hangul. King Sejong secretly promoted the creation of Hangul. In December 1443 (the 25th year of King Sejong's reign), at the end of the monthly record, there is a note stating, "This month, the king created 28 letters of the vernacular script." Then, three years later, in September 1446 (the 28th year of King Sejong's reign), at the end of the monthly record, it states, "This month, Hunminjeongeum was completed." Scholars interpreted this as Hangul being initially created in December 1443 but having many issues that required three years of refinement, leading to its proper completion in September 1446. Since the exact date was not specified, scholars assumed the last day of September and converted it to the solar calendar, setting October 29th as Hangul Day.

However, in the 1940s, scholar Bang Jong-hyun pointed out that the 1446 September record in the Annals should be interpreted not as the completion of Hangul as a script but as the completion of the book called 'Hunminjeongeum' (the so-called Haerye edition). Nevertheless, scholars did not change their views. Later, the original Hunminjeongeum Haerye edition was discovered, with a preface by Jeong In-ji dated "early September, the 28th year of King Sejong's reign." Consequently, the date was moved 20 days earlier from October 29th to October 9th, which was then established as Hangul Day.

Various Names of Hangul

King Sejong named this script 'Hunminjeongeum,' meaning "the correct sounds (letters) to teach the people." However, the yangban aristocrats were not very welcoming of the emergence of Hangul and tended to look down on it compared to Chinese characters and classical Chinese. Classical Chinese was called 'Jinseo (眞書),' while Hangul was commonly called 'Eonmun (諺文).' Since Hangul was mainly used by women, it was also called 'Amkeul.' There is also a theory that it was called 'Ahaetgeul' because it was used by children who had not properly learned classical Chinese.

During the enlightenment period, Hangul, as the nation's unique script, was highly valued and often referred to by names such as 'Jeongeum (正音)' and 'Gukmun (國文).' The person credited with first naming our nation's script 'Hangul' was Ju Si-gyeong. Ju Si-gyeong had a special affection for the Korean language and script during the enlightenment period and devoted himself to education and research. Terms like 'Han-nara-geul,' 'Han-nara-mal,' and 'Han-mal' were also used early on. Additionally, institutions such as 'Baedalmalgeul Mojeum' and 'Joseoneo Gangseupwon' were renamed 'Hangulmo' and 'Hangulbaegot,' respectively.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold the '2024 Hangeul Week' event at Gwanghwamun Square and the National Hangeul Museum to commemorate the 578th Hangeul Day. On the opening day, the 4th, various Hangeul Week-related events are being prepared at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Hangul in the World

The population of Korea, including South and North Korea, is about 70 million, ranking 15th in the world. Korean ranks 13th among thousands of languages spoken worldwide in terms of the number of speakers, following Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, English, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, German, French, and Malay-Indonesian. The National Institute of the Korean Language explains, "Language is not merely a means of communication but contains the history and spirit of a nation," adding, "A nation that loses its native language can hardly be called a nation." It further emphasized, "We must preserve and protect Hangul well to maintain the identity of our nation."