A Brief History of the Korean Writing System, Hangeul
Last Updated: • PublishedThe modern Korean alphabets in use today were developed in the 1440s under the reign of Sejong the Great, the fourth King of Korea's Joseon Dynasty. These alphabets are known as Hangeul.
If you have come across Korean historical dramas, chances are you may have observed that the writing system used in enacting historical periods is dominated by Chinese characters.
In Korean, these Chinese characters are known as Hanja (漢字 / 한자).
The older the historical period, the more Chinese characters you will see. For example, in the historical Korean drama The Great Queen Seondeok (善德女王 / 선덕여엉) set in the Silla Dynasty around the year 500–700s, you can observe that no Korean alphabets were used, because they simply didn't exist at the time.
The modern Korean alphabets in use today were developed in the 1440s under the reign of Sejong the Great (세종대엉), the fourth King of Korea's Joseon Dynasty.
These alphabets are known as Hangeul (한글).
This is why you would only be able to notice instances of Korean alphabets in historical dramas set in periods after the 1440s, such as in Dae Jang Geum (大長今 / 대장금), which was set in late 1400s–early 1500s; as well as Dong Yi (同伊 / 동이), which was set in the late 1600s–early 1700s.
Hanja was prominent throughout the Korean monarchy. This was because being able to read Chinese characters in those times reflected aristocracy and/or high-class education. The Korean society at that time was divided into a class system, and often some members of the society such as slaves were considered illiterate as they had little to no knowledge of Chinese characters. Many, however, learned how to read and write the simple set of Hangeul after its conception.
Of course, this does not mean that Hangeul was completely shunned by those belonging to the royalty and nobility for the sake of supremacy. The effectiveness of Hangeul in the Korean language had in fact contributed to the use of mixed script between Hangeul and Hanja in a number of historical documents after the 1440s.
Still, the widespread use of Hanja remained well until the 1900s, when Korea came under Japanese rule. This is a period when the Korean monarchy and class system collapsed. Education was hardly accessible, and as a result, the literacy rate was at an all-time low. Additionally, with the aftermath of the war resulting in the split of Korea into North Korea and South Korea, both countries began reducing Chinese linguistic influences and moved towards using the Korean alphabet to its full extent.
In the late 1940s, North Korea abolished the use of Hanja in favor of Hangeul in its writing system. South Korea sought to increase literacy rates during this period with social groups advocating for the use of Hangeul exclusively in its writing system, but this did not go through as official documents were still written in mixed script. It was only until the 1970s that South Korea began using Hangeul exclusively in official documents, newspapers, and other media channels.
Today, Hangeul is the standard writing system in both North Korea and South Korea, praised by many international linguists as one of the most effective writing systems ever developed.