The Sprit of Korean Cultural Roots

Hangeul: The Korean Alphabet, the English translation of the 30th book in The Spirit of Korean Cultural Roots series, explains the background to the creation of Hangeul, the principles behind the design of the letters, and the process of its development. Hangeul is the only script in the world whose creator, time of creation and principles behind its creation are clearly known. This book also gives an account of King Sejong's motivation for creating Hangeul and the process leading up to completion of the new Korean writing system in 1444, while drawing attention to its scientific basis.
  Recognizing the excellence of Hangeul, in 1989 the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize was inaugurated to award groups or individuals working to eradicate illiteracy, while the commentary explaining Hangeul, titled Hunmin jeongeum, was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

  The book consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 explains the characteristics of Hangeul and how it was developed with little influence from other writing systems. Chapter 2 explains that King Sejong was motivated to invent Hangeul for the sake of the common people who had difficulty reading literary Chinese, and contains an overview of the contents of the Hunmin jeongeum manuscript. Chapter 3 shows how the ease of learning Hangeul facilitated its spread in everyday life, while Chapter 4 explores how circumstances in the late Joseon period, particularly the influence of Western culture, led to the shift in literacy based on Hangeul rather than the old system of Chinese characters, and the threat posed to the Korean alphabet during the Japanese occupation period. Finally, Chapter 5 explores the globalization of Hangeul in the 21st century on the back of Korea's rapid rise to one of the leading economies in the world after liberation from Japanese rule and the spread of Korean pop culture around the world.

“The Spirit of Korean Cultural Roots” is a bilingual project aimed at explaining the origin and evolution of Korean culture in a series of compact books. The series, published in Korean and English, began in 2005. Among the topics covered so far are literature, history, music, fine arts, handicrafts, furniture, food, costumes, architecture and theater. A rich assortment of visual material accompanies each comprehensive survey, making the subjects more accessible to general readers. The English editions are significantly contributing to international understanding of Korean culture.