In such a circumstance where languages
and writngs were doing different job from each other,
somehow it contributed to maintaining power of the ruling
class of those days even though they also felt uneasy
on this circumstance. Only persons belonging to the
ruling class were allowed to learn Chinese writing and
take a test for selecting officials, which was the entrance
to the higher society and the chance to grap political
power and/or economical benefits.
From the viewpoint of majority, the appearance of new
letters, which was easy for ordinary people to learn,
was hardly considered or even unwelcomed because they
enjoyed various kinds of vested rights based on that
structure. Considering this, it was a very striking
event in its political aspect that King Sejong invented
to contribute to a better
life for the sake
of ordinary people. Sejong
crrectly predicted that the ruling class would dislike
and resisted new letters, so that he progressed it very
Since Sejong had to do this job in secret, it was not
easy to borrow hands of his ministers. Many people assumed
that Sejong and scholars of Jiphyunjeon(ÁýÇöÀü) cooperated
to invent Han-geul or Sejong let the scholars create
Han-geul. But, those assumptions do not have any factual
grounds. The records of those days such as Sejong Sillok
or Preface of Jung In Jee altogether emphasize that
Sejong created Han-geul by himself.
Some people can say, because a work done by ministers
could be passed to the achievement of King according
to customs in those days, such records were left. But
it is a prejudice without evidence as well. Throughout
the authentic record of Sejong (Sejong Sillok), the
expression "By himself(öÑð¤)" was used in only
Hunmin-Chong¡¯?m among many works accomplished in the
period of Sejong.
If the work was done by ministers under the order of
Sejong, then it was clearly addressed that it was the
work of ministers without exceptions. As the facts that
Sejong invented Hunmin-Chong¡¯um by himself were addressed
clearly several times in authentic records and other
records, there should be proper evidences.
If we want to find people who assisted Sejong, they
were not ministers but the Crown Prince(á¦í, later Munjong)
and Suyang-Daegun(âÏåÕÓÞÏÖ, later Sejo). The records in
preface of ¡ìûóÙëïáê¤æ»ýº¡í written by Sin Suk-Ju, ¡ìòÁú°ÔÛíã§¡í in
¡ìà÷ÐÍÜËà»ßæó¢¡í witten by Song Sam-Mun say that Munjong assisted
Sejong to produce Han-gul.
And afrer invention of Han-gul, Sejong mobilized lower
class officials of Jiphyonjon related to Han-gul for
translation of ¡ìê¤üå¡í, which was the first work in public,
then he made the Crown Prince, Suyang-Daegun and Anpyong-Daegun
supervise the work. Because the princes knew Han-g?l
well, the work could be assigned to them.
However, as soon as lower class officials of Jiphyonjon
were mobilized, Choi Man-Ri the head (Bujehak, Üùð«ùÊ)
of Jiphyonjon and other ministers presented a petition(Sangsomun,
ß¾áÂÙþ) to the king on 20th day of February, and tried
to stop the project related to Han-gul.
If the invention of Han-gul had been publicly processed
with mobilization of the scholars of Jiphyonjon prior
to December 1443, Choi Man-Ri and the fellows didn't
need to wait to present a petition until February 1444.
Therefore the scholars of Jiphyonjon involved in Han-gul
project in February 1444 after Han-gul had been invented
Choi Man-Ri says in his petition, "It is not right
that the King is taking care of Han-gul project that
is not so urgent, even when you needed medical treatment
for recuperation." Against this, Sejong showed
significant scholastic self-confidence through saying
"Do you know Unso(ê¤ßö)? and Do you know Four tones(Sasong,ÞÌá¢)",
Seven sounds(Chilum,öÒëå) and how many Jamo(í®Ù½) are there?
If I don't correct the Unso(ê¤ßö), who will correct it?".
According to these records, we can see that Sejong was
an outstanding scholar as he had deep scholarship of
Chinese phonology, based on this, had ability to analyze
our language precisely and to invent scientific characters
suitable to write our language. And also he had a strong
love to Han-gul, as he kept studied even being in journey
for medical treatment.
Sejong can be considered as the first one if we were
looking for someone who had scholastic ability to make
Han-gul in those days. Also we can consider what the
reason was for him to have strong love for Han-gul business.
Was it probably because he invented it by himself?