To Hangul and Beyond

It’s the 1440s, and we’re in Korea.

King Sejong is frustrated, because he keeps hearing stories of his people trying to learn to read and write, and the people are frustrated. It’s really tough to memorize the thousands of Classical Chinese characters used to convey the Korean language.

The intricate Chinese characters sprawl across the page like an insurmountable mountain range. Farmers and privileged people alike struggle even to get a basic understanding of words and meanings on paper. Memorizing complex characters requires too much time and mental energy that their daily activities just don’t allow.

This is how Hangul came to be.

How Hangul Happened

Recognizing the urgent need for change, King Sejong assembled an elite group of scholars, linguists, and intellectuals. Their mission was bold: to create a writing system from scratch that would be intuitive enough for any Korean to achieve literacy with minimal effort.

Months of intense debate and hard work followed.

Each and every charac…