Hangul: an alphabet for the people

King Sejong of Joseon devised an alphabet for Korean, presented to his court at the turn of 1443–44 and published in 1446 as Hunminjeongeum, 'the proper sounds to instruct the people', because Chinese characters suited Korean poorly and kept most people illiterate. The elite looked down on it for centuries and King Yeonsan persecuted its use in 1504 after criticisms of him were written in it; it won acceptance among the educated only from the late 19th century, when the government made it the preferred script for official documents (1894), and only after 1945 did most Koreans read and write in it.

The mechanism

CUSTODY OF THE WORD

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE RELEASES, AND THE ENCLOSURE THAT FOLLOWS EACH 1382 to 1694
• SourcesRECORD — Britannica, 'Hangul'; Wikipedia, 'Hangul' (the 1504 persecution) · checked 19 September: Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Hangul'; Wikipedia, 'Hangul' (1443-44; 1446; 1504; 21 November 1894 decree; Tongnip Sinmun 1896; post-1945 literacy)