Hangul: The heroes that saved the Korean language
Seoul, South Korea
The secret mission
Kim Pan-Su (김 반 수), was a normal Korean man who lived during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945). He couldn’t read or write Korean, as it was forbidden by the Japanese. Japanese was the main language to be used. Mr Kim was living with his children (a son and a daughter) as their mother had passed away. He just lost his job at the cinema theater and is desperately looking for another job to feed his children.
He gets an offer to run errands for the Korean language society, with the condition that he has to learn to read and write Korean in one month. The Korean language society had been collecting words, secretly, for ten years, to make the first ever Korean dictionary. One of the members agrees to teach Mr Kim to read and write and when he learns he becomes ecstatic, he starts reading books and gets deeply involved in the cooperation with the society.
The dictionary is about to be finished only the last part remains, it is about collecting words from different dialects but as they are running out of time and about to be discovered by the Japanese, Kim Pan-Su gather friends from all over Korea, and instead of travelling to remote areas collecting information, his friends come to where the members of the association are or send them information by post. The last information is gathered in a bag and chased by the Japanese , Kim Pan-Su and his friend Ryu Jung-Hwan run down the dark streets at night.
The rest of the 10 years project of collected information is safely stored in an old post office building. It is now up to them to save the last part of the dictionary. Mr Ryu gets shot and Mr Kim continues to run alone. Desperate to save the precious bag he finds an open window in the old post office, close to the railway station, he throws the bag inside and starts running, followed by the Japanese.
He gets cornered and without an escape route he gets caught in a one way street. He is shot and dies, leaving his two children fatherless as a result of his actions and his wish for a better world for his children to grow up in, a world where they can freely speak Korean he pays the ultimate price.
Years after Kim Pan-Su’s tragic death and after the Japanese lost the Second World War the Japanese left Korea and the dictionary could be completed. The bag with the remaining information was found where Mr Kim left it in the post office, close to the railway station in the same spot where he was killed.
(Based on a true story. Some names have been altered.)
Korean Calligraphy
The Korean language
This is one of many incidents in a long line of remarkable episodes in the history of the Korean language. Let’s start from the beginning!
Korea is located between China and Japan, as a dwarf between giants. Constant wars, occupations and invasions were routine. Persistent external threats made Korea close itself up to the outside world and created a well balanced, homogeneous Korean togetherness.
This unified, conservative population succeeded in keeping their traditions, language and culture alive for centuries in spite of a constant foreign threat to their identity.
The Korean language has very old, deep roots. Although the Koreans had their own language, this language lacked a script of its own subsequently it borrowed the Chinese characters 한자 used along with an awkward combination of various phonetic writing systems, that had been developed over the years, to fill in the gaps in the writing system. These different writing systems didn’t mix well. The fundamental problem is that the Chinese writing system is based on morphemes (a combination or groups of letters or phonemes).
On the other hand the remaining phonetic writing systems were, as deductible, based on phonetics (letter system).
Combining these two essentially different systems becomes complicated and confusing. Another sizable problem was that there were sounds in Korean that did not have a resemblance in Chinese and vice versa. Korean grammar is very different from Chinese as is the structure of sentences.
One result of these complications was that many already existing words in Korean were lent from Chinese, as it was easier to write these words that already existed in the Chinese writing system.
*See list at the end
Furthermore, the Chinese logo-graphic nature ill suited the Korean's complex grammar.
Faced with all these problems the Korean language’s first rescuer, king Sejong, came up with one of the most genius and important changes in Korean history, the Korean self design scripture "Hangeul" (한글). It was definitely the first amazing effort to save the Korean language from disappearing! The invention of Hangeul in 1443 was genius, it was and is one of the few scripts in the world to be deliberately designed, not organically evolved.
King Sejong’s new script consists of a simple 28 letter alphabet designed both to save the language and to help people of all classes to be able to read and write Korean in a matter of a week. That is how easy it was to learn the new script.
As a result of Hangeul the literacy rates skyrocketed to some of the highest in the world.
Today Korea remains at the top of the world literacy rankings thanks to the heroic efforts of king Sejong and Hangeul. Hangeul is recognized worldwide for its ingenuity and many redeeming features.
** see end
Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
The first dictionary
Equipped with their own writing system the Korean people and their language continued facing new challenges. Due to constant disputes and struggles with neighbors, Koreans were always occupied with protecting themselves. The language was under ceaseless threats.
Returning to the incident mentioned in the beginning of the article, that Japanese occupation lasted from 1910-1945.
During these 35 years Koreans were forbidden to speak, learn or use their own language as Japanese was the official language and the only language to be used in the country.
Afraid of losing their language along with their identity the Korean language association decided to put together the first Korean dictionary! As a way of saving the already weakened language and as a way of creating resistance, 33 members of the association, mainly teachers, writers and reporters risked their lives to secretly collect words.
Ordinary words were easier but the different dialects presented several challenges. However, it took these 33 heroes 15 years of hard work and courage to complete the dictionary, a second time, exceptionally heroic effort to save the Korean language.
Seoul, South Korea
Hong Gil Dong (홍 길 동)
Unrelated to linguistic heroism there is another Korean hero, a widely famous national figure from Korean folktales just as heroic and well respected. It is Hong Gil Dong Koreans equivalent to Robin Hood. His name is still used today but now to describe an unknown person (something like John Doe).
During the reign of king Yeo San-Gun many peasant armies and resistance groups rose throughout the country, to oppose the injustice committed by the government.
Hong Gil Dong was a very clever and hardworking boy, who was born as a son to a second wife of his father. This complicated his life as a child and had a major impact on the rest of his days. His ambition was to become a high ranked official in the government but because of his birth status, governmental positions were forbidden for illegitimate sons,this dream was unreachable.
When he was old enough he travelled the country but as he lacked a plan he ended up wandering around for months travelling across mountains, rivers and valleys with the hope of founding work.
One night when he was sleeping under a tree he could hear a voice talking to him. When he woke up he found a man with a long beard , the old man taught him a few magic tricks, some martial arts and gave him wisdom as a master.
Hong Gil Dong dressed as a nobleman proceeded to steal riches from the corrupt nobles and government officials and gave it to the poor, just like Robin Hood. Later on, out of gratitude and to protect Hong Gil Dong the peasants also started to dress up like him to confuse the officials and to hinder them from capturing Hong Gil Dong.
After many incidents and confrontations the story ends with Hong Gil Dong retiring with his men and followers to an island. He tells them; in this country everyone will be born equal. Our country shall be the first equal opportunity country. A country where the law is the same for everyone.
Hanbok, traditional Korean dress
The achievements of these ancient Korean heroes are still living with the Korean people until today. Hong Gil Dong has given people hope by fighting for the poor and weak.
The members of the Korean language association presented the Korean people with a dictionary and orthography, for how to correctly spell, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis and punctuation.
As for king Sejong, widely recognized as one of the most influential and greatest Koreans in history , gave the Koreans a script language “Hangeul” that is recognized worldwide for its ingenuity. UNESCO honors this great achievement with the king Sejong literacy prize.
Korea is the only country in the world that has a national holiday to celebrate its writing system!
* Korean and lent words from Chinese
Sun: Hae (해) -> Taeyang (태양)
Use: Sayonghada (사용하다) -> Sseuda (쓰다)
Friend: Peot/Dongmu (벗/동무) -> Chingu (친구)
** The tongue position of Korean letters
