Editing Sejong the Great (section)

===Hangul===
{{See also|Hunminjeongeum|Hangul}}
[[File:Hunmin jeong-eum.jpg|140px|thumb|right|''[[Hunminjeongeum]]'']]

King Sejong profoundly affected Korea's history with the creation and introduction of ''[[hangul]]'', the native phonetic writing system for the [[Korean language]].<ref name="National Institute" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Jeong-su |script-title=ko:한글의 역사와 미래 |date=1 October 1990 |publisher=Yeolhwadang |isbn=9788930107235 |language=Korean |trans-title=The history and future of Hangul}}</ref> Although it is widely assumed that he ordered the [[Hall of Worthies]] to invent the script, contemporaneous records such as the ''[[Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty|Veritable Records of King Sejong]]'' and [[Chŏng Inji]]'s preface to the ''[[Hunminjeongeum Haerye]]'' emphasize that Sejong invented it himself.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 2003 |title=Want to know about Hangeul? |url=https://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/setting/002.html |access-date=25 May 2020 |website=[[National Institute of Korean Language]]}}</ref>

Before the creation of the new alphabet, the people of [[Joseon]] primarily used [[Classical Chinese]] to write, alongside a few writing systems like [[Idu script|''idu'']], ''[[hyangchal]]'', ''[[gugyeol]]'', and ''gakpil''{{Snd}}which used Chinese characters to approximate sounds of the Korean language{{Snd}}that had been in use since hundreds of years before hangul.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hannas |first1=William C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJfv8Iyd2m4C&pg=PA57 |title=Asia's Orthographic Dilemma |date=1 June 1997 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824818920 |page=57 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chen |first1=Jiangping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CpZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 |title=Multilingual Access and Services for Digital Collections |date=18 January 2016 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |isbn=9781440839559 |page=66 |language=}}</ref><ref name="phonetic">{{cite journal |date=1 January 2005 |title=Invest Korea Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00a2AAAAIAAJ |journal=Invest Korea Journal |language= |publisher=[[KOTRA|Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency]] |volume=23 |quote=They later devised three different systems for writing Korean with Chinese characters: Hyangchal, Gukyeol and Idu. These systems were similar to those developed later in Japan and were probably used as models by the Japanese.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |year=2000 |title=Korea Now |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAlWAAAAYAAJ&q=%22The+writing+systems%2C+called+%22idu%22+and+%22hyangchal%2C%22+existed+several+hundred+years+before+Hangul%22 |journal=[[The Korea Herald]] |edition=13–26 |volume=29}}</ref> However, due to the fundamental differences between the Korean and Chinese languages,<ref>''[[Hunminjeongeum Haerye]]'', postface of [[Chŏng Inji]], p. 27a; translation from [[Gari Ledyard]], ''The Korean Language Reform of 1446'', p. 258</ref> and the large number of Chinese characters required, lower-class people of Joseon lacked the privilege of [[education]] and were illiterate. To promote literacy, King Sejong created [[hangul]] (which initially had 28 letters, four of which, ㆆ, ㆁ, ㅿ, and ·, are no longer in use).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Koerner|first1=E. F. K.|last2=Asher|first2=R. E.|title=Concise History of the Language Sciences: From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9781483297545|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCqLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|language=en|date=2014-06-28}}</ref>

Hangul was completed in 1443 and published in 1446 along with a 33-page manual titled ''[[Hunminjeongeum]]'', explaining what the letters are as well as the philosophical theories and motives behind them.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fifty Wonders of Korea Volume 1: Culture and Art |publisher=Korean Spirit & Culture Promotion Project |year=2009 |edition=2nd |pages=28–35}}</ref>

King Sejong faced backlash from the [[Yangban|noble class]] as many disapproved of the idea of a common writing system, with some openly opposing its creation. Many within the nobility believed that giving the peasants the ability to read and write would allow them to find and abuse loopholes within the law. Others felt that hangul would threaten their families' positions in court by creating a larger pool of civil servants. The Joseon elite continued to use the Chinese ''[[hanja]]'' long after Sejong's death.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Griffis |first=Ben |date=18 January 2021 |title=Sejong the Great |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Sejong_the_Great/ |access-date=13 November 2023 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Hangul was often treated with contempt by those in power and received criticism in the form of nicknames, including ''eonmun'' ("vulgar script"), ''amkeul'' ("women's script"), and ''ahaekkeul'' ("children's script"). It was commonly used for areas like casual writing, prose and bookkeeping, especially by the urban middle class like administrators and bureaucrats.<ref>{{Citation |last=강 |first=신항 |script-title=ko:한글 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]] |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0061508 |access-date=2024-09-05 |publisher=[[Academy of Korean Studies]] |language=ko}}</ref> It notably gained popularity among women and fiction writers, with former usually often not having been able to get access to hanja education.

In 1504, the study and publication of hangul was banned by [[Yeonsangun of Joseon|Yeonsangun]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Bernstein |first1=Brian |last2=Kamp |first2=Harper |last3=Kim |first3=Janghan |last4=Seol |first4=Seungeun |title=The Design and Use of the Hangul Alphabet in Korea |url=https://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i103/su09/projects/The%20Design%20and%20Use%20of%20the%20Hangul%20Alphabet.pdf#:~:text=%EF%82%9E%E2%80%AFHangul%20gained%20great%20use%20and%20acceptance%20during%20the,used%20officially%20in%201945%20once%20Korea%20received%20independence |access-date=12 November 2023 |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]]}}</ref> Its spread and preservation can be largely attributed to three main factors: books published for women, its use by Buddhist monks,<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2003 |title=Want to know about Hangeul? |url=https://www.korean.go.kr/eng_hangeul/supply/001.html |access-date=12 November 2023 |website=[[National Institute of Korean Language]]}}</ref> and the introduction of [[Christianity in Korea]] in 1602.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43107101|jstor = 43107101|title = Western Protestant Missionaries and the Origins of Korean Language Modernization|last1 = King|first1 = Ross|journal = Journal of International and Area Studies|year = 2004|volume = 11|issue = 3|pages = 7–38}}</ref> Hangul was brought into the mainstream culture in the 16th century due to a renaissance in literature and poetry. It continued to gain popularity well into the 17th century, and gained wider use after a period of nationalism in the 19th century. In 1849, it was adopted as Korea's national writing system, and saw its first use in official government documents. After the [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910|Treaty of 1910]], hangul was outlawed again until the [[Surrender of Japan|liberation of Korea]] in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |date=28 February 2018 |title=How Japan Took Control of Korea |url=https://www.history.com/news/japan-colonization-korea |access-date=6 October 2023 |website=[[History (American TV network)|History]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3096244|jstor = 3096244|title = Dead Bodies in the Postwar Discourse of Identity in Seventeenth-Century Korea: Subversion and Literary Production in the Private Sector|last1 = Haboush|first1 = Jahyun Kim|journal = The Journal of Asian Studies|year = 2003|volume = 62|issue = 2|pages = 415–442|doi = 10.2307/3096244|s2cid = 154705238}}</ref>