Hangul is the Korean alphabet since 1443. The credit of its invention goes to King Sejong of the Yi Dynasty (1392-1910). Many Korean scripts used a complex system of Chinese characters before the Hangul developed. However, Chinese characters couldn’t represent Korean speech very well.  As a result, King Sejong (1397-1450) commissioned the development of a phonetic script that was both more efficient and easier for ordinary people to read and write.

Hangul is one of the most modern alphabets ever conceived and consists of 24 letters, including 14 consonants and ten vowels. These letters combine five double consonants and 11 diphthongs. The characters divided into two, three, or four clusters to form syllables and phrases. The advent of Hangul was a great accomplishment in Korean culture history as it resulted in one of the highest levels of literacy in the world.