[Features reporter] King Sejong and Hangeul go global: First National Day in his honor

Soo-hyung, as we all know May 15th, yesterday was Teachers' Day here in South Korea.

But I heard that from now on, it will also be celebrated together with King Sejong's birthday?

That’s right.

As you mentioned, starting this year, for the first time, Teachers' Day is also being marked as King Sejong's Birthday, or Sejongdaewang nashin nal in Korean.

I went to the very first celebration event yesterday, and many people enjoyed experiencing one of his greatest achievements, the creation of Hangeul the Korean letter.

Let's do take a look.

People press a seal engraved with Korean letters, Hangeul.

They also try printing Hangeul, made up of consonants and vowels, by themselves.

This is Hunminjeongeum, the original Hangeul created in 1443.

"We just came to look around and then we just witnessed it and we started to do Hangul and it was really nice actually it was so fun to do."

"I think if you want to try it out you can learn it easy."

"She learned Korean like for three months now. So Hangul was really easy."

"Yeah, and it was for me at least it was easy."

Born on May 15, 1397, King Sejong the Great is regarded as one of the greatest monarchs in Korean history.

He made important contributions to Korean culture, including in science, the arts and agriculture.

Among his contributions is Hangeul, the Korean letters.

"May 15th is National Teachers' Day. Last November, the government also designated it as a day to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of King Sejong, the “teacher” of the Korean nation, and honor his achievements."

The first official celebration of the newly designated day was held at Gyeongbokgung Palace on Thursday.

Many events were held to revive the significance of Hangeul’s creation and his legacy.

Modern Hangeul, made up of 24 letters, is easy to learn and has a unique design.

As Korean culture spreads around the world, more people are interested in learning it.

"Thanks to the global popularity of K-content, Hangeul is gaining attention worldwide. Its simple shapes and small number of characters make it easy to learn, so many people want to study it. But Hangeul is more than just a writing system, its unique design is also admired globally as a form of visual art."

More than six centuries since his birth, King Sejong’s legacy spreads across the world through Hangeul.

Wow the venue looked so interesting.

Then, why was May 15 chosen as the official commemorative day for the birth of King Sejong?

Right, we already have Hangeul Day on October 9th, as a national holiday.

When people think of King Sejong, they usually remember him as the creator of Hangeul.

But actually, he made remarkable achievements across nearly every field.

He focused on making life better for his people.

This includes many scientific tools for use in agriculture so that farmers could work more efficiently, and improved laws and policies to protect the common people from injustice.

That's why the government designated King Sejong’s birthday as the National Day, celebrating the cultural pride he helped build.

Right, Soo-hyung, let's hear more details about the Korean letters, Hangeul, a little more,

Yes. Cause we know how beautiful and creative Hangeul is but for others who still haven't discovered this yet.

Yes, the original version of Hangeul, called Hunminjeongeum, means “the right sounds to teach the people.”

At first, it had 28 letters, but over about 600 years, four letters disappeared, and now we use 24 letters.

The beauty of Hangeul is that it's a writing system where we know exactly who made it, when, where, why, and how that’s pretty rare.

People say Hangeul is easy to learn, but you might not really believe it until you try.

Like those two sisters from Germany we met earlier, they told me they took only couple hours to memorize all 24 letters, it was actually pretty easy for them.

That's exciting to hear.

I always look up to King Sejong, but after this, I admire him even more.

Thank you Soo-hyung for interesting report.

Yes thank you Soo-hyung for the story.