Was Hangeul (Hunminjeongeum) created by King Sejong alone?

Hangeul was indeed created directly and independently by King Sejong. He developed it in secret and first revealed this fact to the world in December 1443. TheAnnals of the Joseon Dynastyalso record: “In the winter of 1443, His Majesty personally created the twenty-eight letters of Jeongeum, showed a brief explanation of their examples and meanings, and named them ‘Hunminjeongeum.’”

After creating Hunminjeongeum, King Sejong received help from eight scholars of Jiphyeonjeon—Jeong In-ji, Choe Hang, Park Paeng-nyeon, Sin Suk-ju, Seong Sam-mun, Gang Hui-an, Yi Gae, and Yi Seon-ro—and in the first ten days of the ninth lunar month of 1446, publishedHunminjeongeum(theHaeryeedition), a book explaining the new script. Because of this explanatory text, the story spread widely that Hangeul had been created jointly by King Sejong and the Jiphyeonjeon scholars.

However, if we look atHunminjeongeum(theHaeryeedition), the officials themselves state that King Sejong personally created Hunminjeongeum. In the “Explanation of the Letters” section of theHaeryeedition, they wrote: “Ah! Now that Hunminjeongeum has been created, the principles of heaven, earth, and all things are fully embodied in it. How truly wondrous this is! It must be that Heaven opened the mind of the holy king and lent him its skill.” Jeong In-ji, the representative of the officials, also wrote in the preface toHunminjeongeum(theHaeryeedition): “Our sovereign is a sage sent by Heaven, whose institutions and achievements surpass those of all kings.”

The strongest evidence that King Sejong created Hangeul on his own is found in the preface toHunminjeongeumwritten by King Sejong himself: “The speech of our country is different from that of China and does not correspond to Chinese characters. Therefore, among the ignorant people, there are many who, though they have something they wish to say, cannot in the end express their meaning. I have felt deep pity for this and have newly made twenty-eight letters, wishing only that all people may learn them easily and use them conveniently in their daily lives.”

Of course, even if King Sejong created Hangeul independently, such an achievement was only possible because he had the support of an outstanding research institution like Jiphyeonjeon and many talented people. Hangeul is a writing system that could only have been created through long study by someone well versed in various fields such as linguistics, music, and astronomy—and, above all, by someone who deeply valued communication among people. It is not the kind of script that could simply be made collectively by many people at once. Still, experts from various fields indirectly supported King Sejong’s research, making his independent creation possible.

(Kim Seul-ong)