Hangeul Day: The Alphabet a King Invented for His People한글날: 세종이 백성을 위해 만든 글자

October 9 is Hangeul Day, a national holiday celebrating the Korean alphabet. That alone surprises many visitors: few countries anywhere give their writing system its own day off.

The reason is the alphabet's remarkable origin story. Hangeul is one of the very few scripts in the world whose creator and creation date are clearly documented. King Sejong the Great created it in 1443 and promulgated it in 1446 in a document called Hunminjeongeum — "the correct sounds for the instruction of the people." Until then, Korean was written with Chinese characters, which took years of study, so literacy belonged mostly to elite men. Sejong's stated goal was that ordinary people could express themselves in writing.

The design is famously scientific: basic consonant letters are modeled on the shape of the mouth and tongue when making each sound, and vowels are built from three philosophical elements (heaven, earth, human). The original script had 28 letters; modern Korean uses 24. The Hunminjeongeum Haerye, the manuscript explaining the logic behind the letters, was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 1997, and UNESCO's international literacy prize is named the King Sejong Literacy Prize.

Most travelers can learn to sound out Hangeul in a few hours — and being able to read subway signs and menu items genuinely changes a trip to Korea. Hangeul Day is a good excuse to try.