Hunminjeongeum (Korean: 훈민정음^[a]; Hanja: 訓民正音; lit. 'The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People') is a 15th-century manuscript that introduced the Korean script Hangul. The name of the manuscript was also the original name of the script.

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King Sejong the Great commissioned the royal research institute Hall of Worthies to write the Hunminjeongeum to describe the writing system he had invented in 1443. The manuscript was then 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 also commissioned the creation of a companion explanatory manuscript entitled Hunminjeongeum Haerye.^[1] In 1940, a copy of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye was discovered in Andong, Gyeongsang Province.^[1] An early copy of the document is in 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]

Before Hangul, the Korean alphabet, was created, Chinese characters were used to transcribe Korean words through systems such as idu, hyangchal and gugyeol.^[4] Since Chinese language and Korean language share few similarities, borrowing Chinese characters proved to be inefficient to reflect the spoken language.^[4] In addition, at the time when Sejong the Great was inventing Hangul the Ming dynasty had just come to power in China, which changed the pronunciation of Chinese characters, making it harder for Koreans to learn the new standard pronunciation to record their words.^[5] The illiteracy level also stayed high since reading and learning Chinese characters was restricted among the ordinary people. They were generally used in official documents by the ruling class.^[4][6] The ruling class took advantage of this and learning the Chinese characters became a symbol of power and privilege.^[4] In order to make written language more accessible for common people, Sejong the Great started creating Hangul secretly, since the ruling class would be appalled by the news.^[4]

Hangul was personally created by Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, and revealed by him in 1443.^[7][8][1][9] Although it is widely assumed that Sejong the Great ordered the Hall of Worthies to invent Hangul, contemporary records such as the Veritable Records of King Sejong and Chŏng Inji's preface to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye emphasize that he invented it himself.^[4] This is stated in Book 113 of The Annals of King Sejong (Sejongsillok) on the 9th month and the 28th year of reign of King Sejong and at the end of An Illustrated Explanation of Hunminjeongeum (Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon; Hunminjeongeum Haerye).^[5] Afterward, King Sejong wrote the preface to the Hunminjeongeum, explaining the origin and purpose of Hangul and providing brief examples and explanations, and then tasked the Hall of Worthies to write detailed examples and explanations.^[1] The head of the Hall of Worthies, Chŏng Inji, was responsible for compiling the Hunminjeongeum.^[9] The Hunminjeongeum was published and promulgated to the public in 1446.^[1] The writing system is referred to as Hangul today but was originally named as Hunminjeongeum by King Sejong. "Hunmin" and "Jeongeum" are respective words that each indicate "to teach the people" and "proper sounds."^[5] Together Hunminjeongeum means "correct sounds for the instruction of the people."^[10]

There are three versions of Hunminjeongeum.

• Hunminjeongeum Yeui: Hanja version (Hunminjeongeum Sillok (세종실록; 世宗實錄; lit. The Sejong Chronicles) is classified as Hunminjeongeum Yeui.^[11])
• Hunminjeongeum Haerye: An Illustrated Explanation of Hunminjeongeum (Hunminjeongeum Yeui + explanation: Haerye)^[12]
• Hunminjeongeum Eonhae: Hangul version of Hunminjeongeum Yeui^[13]

Hunminjeongeum Yeui is written in Classical Chinese/Hanja and contains a preface, the alphabet letters, and brief descriptions of their corresponding sounds.^[12] The Classical Chinese (Hanja) of the Hunminjeongeum has been partly translated into Middle Korean. This translation is found together with Worinseokbo: an annotated Buddhist scripture and is called the Hunminjeongeum Eonhae.^[14]

The first paragraph of Hunminjeongeum Haerye reveals Sejong the Great's motivation for creating Hangul:^[15]