18. The Secret Hangul Project!

[말레이]

18. The Secret Hangul Project!

“If you say that Seolchong is right,

Why do you say that what my king does is wrong?” (King Sejong)

After much suffering, Hangul was born, but the problem is that later generations of scholars who studied Hangul took a side of either “Sejong’s sole work” or “no.” and made their own claims based on historical records. So I wanted to examine the data on these claims and see which one was true. As such, there were three main claims regarding whose work Hangul was. The first is the claim that Hangul was Sejong’s work, the second is the claim that Hangul was a joint work of Sejong and the scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, and the third is the claim that Hangul was a previously existing character. I thought that I would have to examine these claims in more detail to find out which one was more true.

Is Hangul really Sejong’s creation? Or was it the work of the Jiphyeonjeon that Sejong re-established? Most books and textbooks today teach that the creation of Hunminjeongeum was jointly created by Sejong and Jiphyeonjeon scholars. So is this common sense that we know accurate? We could see some scholars’ arguments on this matter.

- Professor Lee Ki-moon (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Literature, Seoul National University)

“There is no such evidence in the records from around the time of the creation of Hangeul.”

- Professor Kang Chang-seok (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Literature, Chungbuk National University)

“At a time when people did not know much about the fact that he was a relative, such a story came out and was spread to everyone as if it were true.”

- Professor Yeo Jeong-dong (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Literature, Gyeongsang National University)

“There is no such story in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. All the people knew that it was wrong, and if Sejong found out, he would be lamenting in his grave.”

The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which recorded this history, only state that “Hangeul was first created in 1443, the 25th year of King Sejong’s reign.” Only a very brief record remains. The creation of Hunminjeongeum caused a great stir at the time. Government officials collectively submitted a petition opposing the creation of Hangeul. Seven scholars, including Choi Man-ri, Vice-President of the Royal Academy, Shin Seok-jo, Kim Mun, and Jeong Chang-son, submitted a petition opposing it. They were all senior scholars who belonged to the Royal Academy and held high positions within the Royal Academy. So why did they submit a petition?

“Even if we must create a Korean alphabet,

we should have consulted with the prime minister

and his subjects first,

but since Gapja wants to spread it widely,

I don’t know the right thing to do.”

They criticized the creation of Hangeul as an arbitrary act by King Sejong through their petition, which was also a strong backlash against the fact that they were completely unaware that Hunminjeongeum was being created.

- Park Jong-guk (Chairman of the Sejong Memorial Society)

“I think Choi Man-ri also knew about the creation of Hunminjeongeum at that time. That’s because there is no record of it before, and

If he was the vice-chairman of the Jiphyeonjeon, he was the person in charge of actual work.

If he had known in advance, it would have come out already.

Since it came out at that time,

Doesn’t that mean that he, who was the highest person in charge of the Jiphyeonjeon, didn’t know at all?”

If Choi Man-ri didn’t know about the creation of Hangeul, what about the story that scholars from the Jiphyeonjeon participated in the process of creating Hangeul? There are seven scholars known to have been involved in the creation of Hangeul, including Jeong In-ji, Choi Hang, Shin Suk-ju, and Seong Sam-mun. If the scholars who submitted the petition against it were seniors, most of them were young and junior scholars, and their names are often mentioned in Joseon Dynasty literature, and they are called the Seven Scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon. The oldest record on this is the Yongjae Chonghwa of Seonghyeon, which records that King Sejong ordered Shin Suk-ju and Seong Sam-mun to create a Korean alphabet. Among the seven scholars of Jiphyeonjeon, the scholar who receives the most attention in relation to the creation of Hangeul is Shin Suk-ju. Not only was he favored by King Sejong, but he was also the one who was most frequently mobilized for Hangeul-related projects. Shin Suk-ju was also fluent in foreign languages, and it is said that he could speak five languages, including Chinese and Japanese. This fact also supports the claim that he participated in the creation of Hangeul. His anthology, Bohanjejip, contains records of his activities, including writings written by Shin Suk-ju himself as well as biographies written by scholars of the time. However, it is written here that it was King Sejong who created the twenty-eight letters of Hangeul, but what Shin Suk-ju did was to compile Hangeul books under the order of King Sejong. However, what scholars have been paying attention to is the record of Shin Suk-ju’s visit to Liaodong.

At that time, he visited Liaodong several times with Seong Sam-mun to meet Hwang Chan, a Chinese linguist who was exiled to Liaodong. It is known that Shin Suk-ju met Hwang Chan to collect materials necessary for the creation of Hunminjeongeum, but this is not true. Regarding this, Professor Kang Chang-seok (Department of Korean Literature, Chungbuk National University) said,

“The question was not about the issue of creating Hangul,

but rather about the sounds of Chinese characters in order to correct Chinese characters.

He went to ask about the theory of Chinese sounds,

not to get any direct advice on creating Hangul.

The year, etc. can be confirmed accurately by looking at the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.”

So when did Shin Suk-ju go to Liaodong to meet Hwang Chan? Shin Suk-ju first went to Liaodong in January 1447. It was one year and two months after Hangul was created. Regarding this, Professor Lee Ki-moon (Professor Emeritus of Korean Literature at Seoul National University) said,

“The actual work can be seen as being done by people of the same age as Seong Sam-mun and Shin Suk-ju,

but Seong Sam-mun came to Jiphyeonjeon a little while ago,

and Shin Suk-ju created Hunminjeongeum at the end of the 25th year of King Sejong’s reign,

but Shin Suk-ju became a Jiphyeonjeon scholar around the 23rd year,

and went to Japan the following year.

There was no time to get involved in that work.”

In the end, there is no record anywhere that Jiphyeonjeon scholars participated in the creation of Hangeul. Rather, it only revealed that senior scholars opposed the creation of Hangeul itself, and that young scholars also participated in the creation of Hangeul books. In the end, the 28 Hangeul letters created in the 25th year of King Sejong’s reign cannot be considered the work of Jiphyeonjeon scholars. Among the books on Hunminjeongeum, the oldest one that is currently extant is Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon, which is believed to have been created by scholars of Jiphyeonjeon in the 28th year of King Sejong’s reign for the promulgation of Hangeul. This Haeryebon contains interpretations of each letter of Hangeul, and in the preface of this book written by Jeong In-ji, a scholar of Jiphyeonjeon, there is a mention of the person who created Hangeul, “His Majesty created it (殿下創制) - His Majesty created it.” This clearly states that Sejong created the twenty-eight letters of Hunminjeongeum. Regarding this, Professor Kang Chang-seok (Department of Korean Literature, Chungbuk National University) said,

“Many people think that the subjects created it, but according to custom,

it was expressed as the king who did it,

but we can see that this is not the case just by looking at other things.

King Sejong did not only create Hangeul, but also many other projects.

The names of the people who did all of these projects are revealed.

And even if it was done to give credit to the king,

At that time, the general public thought that

creating Hangeul was not a great achievement,

and that the king was doing something that should not have been done,

so they used the expression‎ 'filial piety' to give credit to the king.

I think this is a completely unfounded claim.“

This content can also be confirmed through Choi Man-ri's memorial.

"This new and strange Korean alphabet is nothing more than a new and strange talent,

which hinders scholarship and is not beneficial to politics.

No matter how much I think about it, it is not right." (Choi Man-ri's memorial)

He harshly criticized that creating Hangeul was nothing more than a strange talent and was not beneficial at all. In response, Sejong refuted as follows:

"You say that Seolchong is right,

but why do you say that what my king is doing is wrong?"

This is a rebuttal to the question of why Sejong says that the Idu created by Seol Chong is right while his own king’s work is wrong, revealing that he himself created Hangul. Even in the writings written by Sejong himself, there is no mention of him ordering someone else to create Hangul. This fact is most clearly revealed in the preface to Hunminjeongeum, which states that he personally created the twenty-eight letters of Hangul.

Professor Lee Ki-moon (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Literature, Seoul National University) said,

“The expression‎ ‘personal creation’ can only be found in Hunminjeongeum.

If we look at what we cannot see anywhere else, Hunminjeongeum is truly personal creation.

The fact that there is no doubt that Sejong had various academic backgrounds or abilities that allowed him to create this is also strong evidence for this claim.”

It is said that Sejong had an unusual interest in learning since childhood. He devoted himself to books day and night, which often led to poor health. Because of this, there is a record that his father, Taejong, took away all his books so that he could not read. It can be inferred that Sejong had already reached a considerable level of learning during his time as a prince.

Park Jong-guk, the chairman of the Sejong Memorial Society, said,

“Sejong is the great king of learning.

He loved studying since he was young,

so when he became king, he went to bed late and woke up early to study.

He said that there is no book among the classics that I have not read.

He saw everything that was in our country at that time.”

It is said that Sejong was also well-versed in linguistics.

“Can we just lightly attach absurd vernacular

to the old people’s rhyme?”

When scholars such as Choi Man-ri claimed that translating rhyme into Hangul was absurd, Sejong’s rebuttal was as follows:

“Do you know rhyme? Also, do you know how many letters and consonants there are in the four tones and the seven sounds?

“A person called Choi Man-ri was in charge of Jiphyeonjeon,

in other words, he could be said to be the greatest scholar of the time,

and in front of such a greatest scholar of the time,

you can’t say,

“Do you know this?”

even if you are the king, if you don’t have academic ability, it’s not something you can say.”

As such, immediately after creating Hangeul, Sejong ordered the compilation of Dongguk Jeongun, which was a considerable task as it involved transcribing a vast amount of qina phonetic values ​​into Hangeul, but according to the preface written by Shin Suk-ju, who was in charge, each and every sound was directly approved by the king. This shows that Sejong was the greatest scholar of the time in phonetics.

So what was the role of Jiphyeonjeon scholars in the process of creating Hunminjeongeum? We can find a clue in the preface of Hunminjeongeum Haerye written by Jeong In-ji. Sejong ordered, “Add in detail.” By receiving this order from Sejong, the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon were only involved in the interpretation of the twenty-eight letters of Hangul and the compilation of Hangul books such as Dongguk Jeongun. These were also tasks that were carried out by receiving Sejong’s instructions one by one. Regarding this, Professor Kang Chang-seok (Department of Korean Literature, Chungbuk National University) said,

“Because Sejong was a king, the fact that he was a scholar is obscured,

but Sejong was a very excellent linguist even though he was a king.

The fact that he was a linguist is not emphasized,

but if he had not been a king, wouldn’t his name be mentioned in world history as a linguist?

Because he did so many things and was also a king,

the fact that he was a scholar is obscured, but if you look at his various achievements and records,

Sejong was an excellent linguist.

Therefore, the person most responsible for Hangul-related projects during Sejong’s reign was Sejong himself, the greatest linguist of his time.” In addition to this, there are many stories about the creation of Hunminjeongeum, but almost none of them are reliable. However, it is said that specific records are being passed down from the family of Princess Jeongui, the second daughter of King Sejong. An Guk-seung (Vice President of the Juksan Ahn Clan Association) said,

“This is a story we heard when we were young, but there is a story that after Hangeul was created,

she was mobilized to experiment on the civilians.”

Princess Jeongui, the second daughter of King Sejong, who is said to have created Hangeul, married into the Juksan Ahn Clan. However, there is a record in the family genealogy that she helped create Hangeul under the order of King Sejong. Regarding this, An Myeong-guk (Secretary General of the Juksan Ahn Clan Association) said,

“When I look at the genealogy,

there is a similarity as the record here!

When King Sejong asked his princes to explain the changes and localization of Hangeul,

the princes could not,

so he ordered Princess Jeongui to do it… … .”

Here, there is a record that Princess Jeongui solved the phoneme and localization, and King Sejong praised her and gave her hundreds of slaves as a reward, but it is said that there was no specific mention of the phoneme and localization that Princess Jeongui solved. However, we can only vaguely assume that it was a language or dialect used by the common people. It is not known exactly what role Princess Jeongui played in the process of creating Hangeul. However, this record provides important clues that show that King Sejong’s immediate family participated in the process of creating Hangeul.

We can also confirm‎ that the princes were deeply involved in the Hangeul book compilation project led by scholars of Jiphyeonjeon. The first project implemented after the creation of Hangeul was the translation of Unhoe, and the princes were mobilized for this project. Regarding this, Professor Lee Ki-moon (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Language and Literature, Seoul National University)

thinks, “Didn’t King Sejong exchange opinions with King Munjong and Prince Suyang during the process of creating Hangeul?” The fact that the crown prince and the prince were appointed as the general managers of the Hunminjeongeum project in the 25th year of King Sejong’s reign, the year after the proclamation of Hunminjeongeum, and two months later, can be seen as a result of their knowledge of the content. At that time, young scholars from the Jiphyeonjeon first participated, and then Choi Man-ri’s counter-petition was submitted.

The three princes who participated in the translation of Unhoe were the crown prince, who would later become King Munjong, Prince Suyang, and Prince Anpyeong. It was not because they were the king’s sons that they were put in charge of the translation project. It is highly likely that they knew more about Hangeul than anyone else. If so, it can be assumed that they participated in helping Sejong create the twenty-eight Hangeul letters.

Park Jong-guk (Chairman of the Sejong Memorial Society) said,

“The three sons are people who can surpass Sejong in academics, writing, etc. There are even records that say that Sejong and Munjong created it together, and there are also records that Sejong had a conversation while eating with the princes.

Judging from this… … Sejo created the Seokbosangjeol, right?

That’s something that can’t be done without something like that.”

It is said that there is an interesting record in the preface of a book called ‘Jikhaedongjaseup’ related to Munjong. This is noteworthy because it was written by Seong Sam-mun, who is said to be the main person who created Hangeul along with Shin Suk-ju. In this writing, Seong Sam-mun writes that Sejong and Munjong created Hangeul. There are no other records to support this, but it is another piece of evidence that shows that the princes participated in the creation of Hangeul. In the end, the creation of Hangeul was the result of secret research that Sejong conducted with his children for over ten years without telling his subjects. Immediately after Hangeul was completed, King Sejong was in great trouble. While no one supported the creation of Hangeul, his most trusted scholars from the Jiphyeonjeon strongly opposed it. Scholars such as Choi Man-ri strongly criticized the king’s actions as thoughtless through their petitions. Their attitude and tone were very dignified, but in response, Sejong seemed to be making excuses.

“Why would we change the harmless letters that have been used since ancient times and create new letters that are low, vulgar,

and useless?”

The reason they dared to challenge King Sejong was because of the problem with China. Choi Man-ri was worried about what would happen if this fact were to be known even to China. Professor Lee Ki-moon (Professor Emeritus, Department of Korean Literature, Seoul National University) said about this,

“It could be said that it was a common-sense attitude.

Scholars at that time had such qualities.

Our country used Chinese characters to write its letters,

and since it was made up of Chinese characters,

the creation of Hangul was unnecessary for them,

and it was natural to oppose it,

saying that it was an attempt to become barbarians.”

The idea of ​​creating a new character because the language of the country was different from that of China was a very dangerous idea at the time. From China’s perspective, having a separate national language, while Joseon, which was in a tributary relationship, was already using Chinese characters, could have been seen as a challenge to China. Regarding this, Professor Yeo Jeong-dong (Professor Emeritus of Korean Literature at Gyeongsang National University) said,

“If you give orders to the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon, there is no one to tell them to do it, so

they have no choice but to create it in secret...

When you give orders to the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon,

they will say, “Your Majesty, this is absolutely not allowed,”

and oppose it.

If there had been opposition from the subjects before Hangul was created, the creation of Hangul would have been difficult. The Naebuldang Incident is a glimpse into this possibility. When Sejong tried to build a Buddhist temple in the palace, his subjects rose up in opposition. The state religion of the country was Confucianism, or Neo-Confucianism, and it was unacceptable for the king to worship Buddhism. There is a record in Haedongjapnok that shows how much opposition there was among his subjects at the time. When their opinions were not accepted, the scholars of Jiphyeonjeon stopped their work and returned home. It is said that Sejong caught Hwang Hui, who was the Prime Minister, and cried, “What should I do about this?”

Even though he was the king, he could not just carelessly ignore the claims of his subjects who were justified. Furthermore, the creation of Hangul for illiterate people was against the interests of the yangban class, so the opposition was bound to be even stronger. Professor Kang Chang-seok (Department of Korean Literature, Chungbuk National University) says this about this:

“At that time, people like Choi Man-ri used Chinese characters to live their lives, and that was also a basis for distinguishing themselves from other commoners, so was there a need to create a character that everyone could understand?

When you look at the part where they look down on Japan, Jurchen, and Seoha, which had their own characters, as barbarians, you can say in a word that it was unnecessary.

From their perspective, it was unnecessary, but Sejong thought that it was necessary from the perspective of the illiterate people, not from their perspective.”

However, unlike the Naebuldang Incident, Sejong dealt very firmly with opponents, and even imprisoned all the scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon who submitted petitions opposing it, in order to push for the use of Hangul. However, if this fact had been known to his subjects before Hangul was created, Hangul itself might not have been possible. Creating Hangul, which was against the cause at that time, was an achievement achieved through secret work after a lonely effort by himself. Therefore, among the three claims, the one that Sejong created alone is more weighted.

Ultimately, when considering all these claims and research results, we can conclude that Sejong created Hangeul alone with the help of his children. However, the problem remains whether Sejong alone created the letters without any data. There are various counterarguments to this, and the content of the previous claims that it is a letter is as follows:

“All Korean letters were modeled after old letters,

and they are not new letters.

The Eonmun was written by borrowing from the 〈Nokdoja〉 that existed in the Joseon Dynasty (Gojoseon). (Sejong Sillok, Volume 103)”

“This month, the King personally created twenty-eight characters,

and they are imitations of classical texts. (Sejong Sillok, Year 25)”

“In the winter of the year of Gyehae,

our Majesty created twenty-eight Jeongeum characters,

and briefly showed them to us,

and named them Hunminjeongeum,

and the letters were hieroglyphic, but modeled after the old electronic script… … (Jeong In-ji’s Haerye Preface)”

“Eonmun is not a new letter because it is based on old letters, and

even though the letter shapes imitate old letters,

since the syllables and compound letters are completely opposite to the old ones,

there is really no basis for it.

(From the collective petition of Choi Man-ri and contemporary Confucian scholars)”

In the end, considering the above materials and various surrounding factors, we cannot help but conclude that Hangul was a letter that had been passed down from the beginning, gradually developed, and was finally reorganized by Sejong and completed by adding new phonetic values ​​to it. Depending on the perspective and viewpoint, it can be said that the two claims that Sejong independently created it or reorganized the previous letters are both wrong or right. Therefore, the two claims were bound to be in conflict to that extent. However, in fact, the two facts met and complemented each other, and since Sejong was the one who created Hangul, in the end, this issue was something that Sejong reorganized using previously existing data, so strictly speaking, it cannot be said that Sejong independently created it, so it would be a correct conclusion to say that he organized it based on the old and breathed new value into it.

However, going a step further, it is surprising to see that there is even a claim that Chinese characters, which we only knew as Chinese characters, were created by the ancestors of the Korean people. The principle is that just as all things have male and female and yin and yang, our writing also has a counterpart of yin and yang, and Hangul is yang and Chinese characters are yin.

Chang-hil, who is called the founder of Chinese characters, is said to be a descendant of Emperor Chiyou of the 14th Baedal Kingdom and a person from Dongyi. And the first evidence of early writing is the oracle bone script (甲骨文). The oracle bone script, which is mainly carved on turtle belly bones and cow shoulder blades, was used during the Yin Dynasty in China 3,400 years ago. It was first discovered in Anyang (安養), the capital of the Yin Dynasty north of the Yellow River. Professor Jin Tae-ha (陳泰夏) of Myongji University (Korean Literature, President of the Korean Society for Korean Language Education) said,

“While studying literacy in Taiwan,

I discovered characteristics in the oracle bone script that could not have been created by anyone but a northern people,

and I have continued to research them to this day.”

And he concluded by saying, “

The name Hanja (漢字) is incorrect, and it should be called ‘Gohan-geul’ (古韓契) or ‘Dongbang-munja’ (東方文字), which are the ancient ‘writings of the Korean people. Professor Jin also said, “The Korean people have created the most advanced ideographic characters in the world and the most scientific phonetic characters, which is a unique achievement in the world and a great source of pride for the Korean people.” If this is proven, the arguments of those who advocate the exclusive use of Hangul or the argument that Chinese characters and Hangul should be used together will become unnecessary. In that case, Hangul has its advantages as Hangul and Chinese characters have its advantages as Chinese characters, and if the two are combined and used together, it will become the most rational and perfect language, so the mixed use of Chinese characters and Hangul is the harmony of yin and yang. Therefore, this issue is considered to be an issue that needs to be examined further in the future. Now is the time to conclude whether Hangul was Sejong’s creation. Considering all of the above, it is certain that Hangul was the product of King Sejong’s unique interest and meticulous research out of his love for Baeseong. However, it cannot be said that the consonants and vowels were designed while directly creating the Chinese characters. It can be said that the Hangul system was created by introducing the existing characters that God's people had already organized the language that God had given them to create basic characters, organizing them into a certain form, re-assigning meaning to them, organizing them, and supplementing some of the characters that were lacking. However, expressing it this way does not diminish King Sejong's ability or influence at all. This is because among all the kings and scholars who have existed so far, there was no one who established and organized such a writing system with such a spirit and passion for loving the people.