Hangul

The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as Chosŏn'gŭl, and in South Korea, it is known as Hangul. The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs used to pronounce them.

The alphabet consists of 24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These letters combine into syllable blocks, which are then used to form words. Hangul is a featural alphabet, meaning the shapes of the letters are related to the way they are pronounced. It was designed to be both a complement and an alternative to the Chinese characters (Hanja) previously used to write Korean.

Hangul was created in 1443 by Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty. The alphabet was made as an attempt to increase literacy by serving as a complement to Hanja, which were Chinese characters used to write Literary Chinese in Korea by the 2nd century BCE, and had been adapted to write Korean by the 6th century CE.

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