[News Terms] Nobel Prize Selecting Body: 'Hanlimwon' or 'Haksulwon'... What Is the Origin of the Name?

Hanlimwon (翰林院) is an academic institution of the Tang Dynasty in China
Although the academy is not called Hanlimwon in Korean,
it can be used as a substitute in context if appropriate.

Novelist Han Kang was selected as the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate on the 10th (Korean time) this year. She is the second Korean Nobel laureate in 24 years, following the late former President Kim Dae-jung's Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. She is the first Asian female writer to receive the award.

Domestic media usually report the Nobel Prize in Literature awarding institution as the Swedish "Hanlimwon" (Swedish Academy). The institution that decides the winners of the Physics, Chemistry, and Economics prizes is called the Swedish Royal Science "Hanlimwon" (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences). The English term for Hanlimwon is Academy. Why is the Swedish "Academy" called "Hanlimwon" in Korean?

A news program on a TV installed at Seoul Station is announcing the news of writer Hangang's Nobel Prize in Literature award.
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

In fact, the origin of calling an academy "Hanlimwon" is not clear. First, the National Institute of the Korean Language has not officially refined "Academy" into the Korean word "Hanlimwon." However, the institute has noted that it once simplified "Music Academy" to terms like "Eumakwon" (Music Institute), "Eumak Gigan" (Music Organization), "Eumak Danche" (Music Group), or "Eumak Hagwon" (Music School).

But the origin can be inferred through history. "Hanlimwon (翰林院)" was used as the name of a national academic institution during the Tang Dynasty in 8th century China. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established Hanlimwon as a royal academic institution. The meaning of Hanlim is a forest (林) of brushes (翰), and won means an office or institute (院).

Hanlimwon functioned to produce and manage national documents, study Confucian classics, and advise the emperor. The Hanlimwon was inherited until the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty of China. In Korean history, a national academic institution with the same name existed during the Goryeo period. In Silla, there was a Hanlim (翰林) modeled after the Tang Dynasty. Thus, Hanlimwon is a representative name for national academic institutions in the East Asian Sino-character cultural sphere.

European countries such as France and the United Kingdom established academic institutions during the absolute monarchy period to select and support top scholars. These are usually called Royal Academies in English. For example, there is the Royal Academy of Music in the UK, a world-renowned music college. Therefore, in many Western countries, academies involved in scholarship and arts are referred to as "Hanlimwon," "Haksulwon," or "Haksawon" in Korean, and the National Institute of the Korean Language explains that if the context allows substitution, "Hanlimwon" can be used.

Works by author Han Kang displayed at the venue where the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced
[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

Some argue on the internet and elsewhere that "Swedish Hanlimwon and Royal Science Hanlimwon are more accurately expressed as 'Haksulwon' (Academy of Sciences) rather than Hanlimwon," but this is meaningless. Ultimately, it depends on the naming preference. For example, the National Academy of Sciences of Korea, established in 1954, is called "National Academy of Sciences" in English, while the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), founded in 1994, uses "Korean Academy of Science and Technology." Although KAST claims that Hanlimwon is the Korean expression for Academy, strictly speaking, this is not entirely accurate.

However, according to KAST, when the institution was established, it considered the royal academic research institute Hanlimwon of the Goryeo era to have a similar role to foreign science academies (Academy of Science), and thus attached "Hanlimwon" to its name.