October 9^th is one of Korea's national holidays called Hangul Proclamation Day. It commemorates the creation of the Hangul characters, and celebrates its excellence. While Koreans nowadays take the existence of Hangul for granted, there was a time in the past when there were no letters to express the Korean language. It took a lot of effort from many people for Hangul to become widely used as it is today. In October, as we approach Hangul Proclamation Day, let's delve into the origin of the day and learn more about Hangul itself.

Hangul was created by King Sejong, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty. The original name for Hangul when it was created was "Hunminjeongeum," which means "the right sounds to instruct the people." The reason Korean characters have such a significance is because at the time of their creation only Chinese characters were used as the writing system in Korea. Before the creation of Hangul, people of Joseon borrowed or modified Chinese characters to write. However, Chinese character had many letters and strokes, making it difficult to learn. Additionally, directly transcribing the Korean language into Chinese character was challenging due to grammatical differences. It caused difficulties in recording Korean text. As a result, the ordinary people had difficulty reading or writing. While the aristocrats and officials opposed the creation of a native script, fearing it might worsen relations with China, King Sejong created Hangul to alleviate the difficulties faced by the ordinary people. Hangul characters were designed based on the shape of the vocal organs and reflect the physiological structure that produces sounds. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the scientific nature of Hangul's creation principles, and in 1997 registered the original document of Hunminjeongeum, ‘Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon’, as a part of the ‘Memory of the World’.

Then why is Hangul Proclamation Day celebrated on October 9^th? Originally Hangul Proclamation Day was not on October 9^th. Hangul Proclamation Day was designated by the Korean Language Society during the period of Japanese colonial era in 1926. They aimed to revive the national spirit that had been suppressed during the colonial era and decided to establish Hangul Proclamation Day as a commemorative event. Referring to an entry in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which stated that "Hunminjeongeum was promulgated on the 29^th day of the 9^th month", September 29^th was assigned as Hangul Proclamation Day. Then, in 1928, the name of Hangul Day was changed to "Gagya Day". At that time, the common method of learning Hangul was to orally sound out the characters. The term "Gagya" was derived from the way characters like "ga" and "gya" were combined to teach one consonant with different vowels. The date and name currently associated with Hangul Day were officially established after Korea's liberation from Japanese rule. In 1940, Hunminjeongeum Haerybeon was discovered, confirming October 9^th as the exact date of Hangul's proclamation. Hangul Day revitalized the national consciousness which had been suppressed by Japan, and transformed from a holiday celebrated by specific groups to one that all citizens of Korea can remember and celebrate.

Then, why should we remember Hangul Proclamation Day? The purpose of Hangul Proclamation Day is to honor the creation and excellence of Hangul and to remember with gratitude those who created and preserved it. Developing a unique culture or knowledge through writing is often challenging, but the emergence of Hangul provided an opportunity to overcome the stagnation of popular culture. Notably, Hangul novels like "Heungbujeon" and "Chunhyangjeon," which became popular among the ordinary people during the late Joseon period, exemplify this cultural development. This allowed broader participation in cultural and artistic activities and laid the foundation for Korea's growth as a cultural powerhouse. On an international level, UNESCO recognized Hangul's role in reducing illiteracy rates and contributing to modern literacy campaigns. UNESCO's evaluation led to the establishment of the King Sejong Prize, awarded to individuals who contribute to eradicating illiteracy.  Meanwhile, the popularization of Hangul required significant efforts. Despite opposition from the ruling class and the Japanese suppression of Hangul usage from 1938 onwards, Hangul was still used in documents, newspapers, and magazines, thanks to the endeavors of Korean scholars and linguists. Efforts to promote education in Hangul and establish standardized spelling further solidified its usage. Furthermore, Hangul's structure provides a significant advantage in the digital age. With only 24 Hangul characters, which consists of basic 14 consonants and 10 basic vowel, every words can be written. Thanks to simplicity of Hangul, all the Korean words can be input with just 10 keys efficiently by keypad 'Chun-Ji-In'. This capability has been crucial in the digital era for fast information processing and language input, contributing to Korea's competitiveness in accumulating vast amounts of information. According to the Korean language Society, considering the speed of inputting Hangul in digital, the capacity for accumulating information is 7~8 times faster than Chinese and Japanese language input speed. Additionally, due to Hangul's phonetic nature, it excels in speech recognition and utilization by artificial intelligence. Capitalizing on these advantages, Korea's IT sector has seen remarkable growth and dominance.

As such, behind the anniversary of Hangul Proclamation Day lies the efforts of many individuals. Additionally, precise records like the Hunminjeongeum Haerybeon, enables us to commemorate a valuable moment even today. As we approach the month of October when Hangul Proclamation Day is celebrated, how about visiting the National Hangeul Museum located in Yongsan? The National Hangeul Museum will offer those with deeper understanding of the excellence and history of Hangul.