Hunminjeongeum

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Hunminjeongeum
Gansong Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
The first page of the foreword written by King Sejong the Great
Also known as	The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People
Date	October 9, 1446 (government of Joeson)
Place of origin	Seoul, Joseon
Scribe(s)	Hall of Worthies
Author(s)	Sejong the Great Hall of Worthies
Script	Classical Chinese
Contents	Introduction of the native Korean writing system Hangul
Korean name
Hunminjeongeum	훈〮민져ᇰ〮ᅙᅳᆷ
Hanja	訓民正音
Revised Romanization	Hunminjeongeum
McCune–Reischauer	Hunminjŏngŭm
Korean name
Hangul	훈민정음
Hanja	訓民正音
Revised Romanization	Hunminjeongeum
McCune–Reischauer	Hunminjŏngŭm

Hunminjeongeum (Korean: 훈민정음; Hanja: 訓民正音; lit. The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People) is an old name for Hangul, and also the name of a 15th-century historical document/book that introduced the principle of the creation and usage of the Hunminjeongeum.

Hunminjeongeum was commissioned and supervised by Sejong the Great based on a writing system (Hunminjeongeum) he invented in 1443 and was published in 1446.^[1]

Hunminjeongeum was intended to be a simpler alternative to the incumbent Chinese-based Hanja, in order to promote literacy among the general populace. It originally included 28 letters , but over time, four of those (ㆆ, ㆁ, ㅿ, ·) were abandoned,^[2] leading to the current 24 letters of Hangul.

Sejong the Great ordered the Hall of Worthies to publish a book called Hunminjeongeum Haerye, which is an explanatory book for Hunminjeongeum.^[1] A copy of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye was discovered in Andong, Gyeongsang Province, in 1940 after 500 years.^[1] An original copy of the document is currently located at the Gansong Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea.^[1]

In 1962, Hunminjeongeum Haerye was designated a National Treasure in South Korea^[1] and was registered by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Programme in 1997.^[3]