On the 8th, the day before Hangul Day, a child looked through an adult literacy textbook from 1961 at a special exhibition at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul's Jongno District. It is 100 years since the Joseon Language Society set up Gagyanal in 1926.
According to a Kyunghyang Shinmun photo report, a child on the 8th was leafing through Hangeul Gongbu, an adult literacy textbook published in 1961, at the special exhibition 'Ilgu-iryuk Muhan-iryuk' at the museum in Jongno District, Seoul. It was the eve of the 100th Hangul Day, and one old textbook showed how the script became an everyday tool.
광고 문의 · 300×250The photo caption recalls that in 1926, under Japanese colonial rule, the Joseon Language Society created Gagyanal to foster national spirit. Two years later, in 1928, it was renamed Hangul Day. Founding a day to honor the script while the language was suppressed was itself both resistance and an educational campaign.
From teaching letters to cultural heritage
The 1961 textbook is a reminder that many adults still could not read or write after liberation and that literacy education was a national task. Hangul has long been praised as easy to learn and helped raise literacy. Hangul Day, now fixed on October 9, brings commemorations, exhibitions and writing contests each year.
Hangul is no longer only for Koreans. As more foreigners study and work in Korea, Korean classes and test-takers have kept growing. Children of ethnic Chinese families born and raised in Korea move between Chinese schools and Korean society, learning Hangul and Chinese characters side by side. A generation fluent in both script cultures can be a bridge between Korea and the Chinese-speaking world.
Each year some argue the day should be used to reflect on the language rather than simply enjoyed as a day off. In this centennial year, it is worth asking how to nurture Korean amid new loanwords and abbreviations, and how to share Hangul in a multicultural society.
