Korea's alphabet holiday, Hangeul Day, turns 100

On October 9, 2026, South Korea celebrated Hangeul Day, a national holiday in honor of the Korean alphabet. This year, the holiday had a double meaning. It was 100 years since the first Hangeul Day was held in 1926, and 580 years since the alphabet was made public. To mark both anniversaries, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized Hangeul Week, a nationwide program from October 6 to 17, under the theme “Hangeul by My Side.”

Hangeul, which is also spelled Hangul, was created in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, together with scholars at his court. At that time, Koreans wrote with Chinese characters, which had been developed for a very different language. After a period of testing, the new letters were made public in 1446 in a book with the same name as the script: Hunminjeongeum, which means “The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People.” In its preface, Sejong wrote that many ordinary people could not express their thoughts in writing, so he had created 28 letters that everyone could learn easily and use every day.