The Korean Alphabet Day, known as Hangeul Day (Korean: 한글날) in South Korea, and Chosŏn'gŭl Day (Korean: 조선글날) in North Korea, is a national Korean commemorative day marking the invention and proclamation of Hangul (한글), the Korean alphabet, by the 15th-century Korean king Sejong the Great. It is observed on October 9 in South Korea and January 15th in North Korea. Excluding the years 1990 to 2012, when the government maximized business days to expedite industrial growth, Hangul Day has been a national holiday in South Korea since 1970.
Hunmin Jeongeum Eonhae
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs used to pronounce them, and they are systematically modified to indicate phonetic features; similarly, the vowel letters are systematically modified for related sounds, making Hangul a featural writing system. It has been described as a syllabic alphabet as it combines the features of alphabetic and syllabic writing systems.
A page from the Hunminjeong'eum Eonhae. The Hangul-only column, third from the left (나랏말ᄊᆞ미), has pitch-accent diacritics to the left of the syllable blocks.
Songangasa, a collection of poems by Jeong Cheol, printed in 1768.
ㅁ (m) is similar to a closed mouth.
Harvard professor Edwin Reischauer, a Japanologist, regarded Hangul as a highly logical system of writing.
