The Haerye Edition and UNESCO Memory of the World

The Haerye edition was published in 1446. It is written in 한문, the classical Chinese style, because that was the language of scholarship at the time.

The book has three main parts.

The first part is written by King Sejong himself. It begins with his famous preface, which explains why he made the letters. Then it briefly shows each letter and its sound.

The second part is the 해례, the long explanation. Scholars working for the king explain how the letters were designed, how consonants and vowels are combined into syllables, and they give many example words. This is where we learn that ㄱ shows the tongue, that ㆍ stands for heaven, and all the other design ideas you studied in the last two lessons.

The third part is a postface written by the scholar Jeong In-ji (정인지). He praises the new letters and explains their value. He also lists the scholars who worked on the explanation. At the end, he writes the date: the early part of the ninth month of 1446, in the lunar calendar.

After the 15th century, Hangul continued to be used, as you will see in the next lesson. But the Haerye edition itself became very hard to find. As the centuries passed, people knew the letters, but no one could find a copy of the book that explained their design.

Because of this, scholars in the early 20th century had many different theories about where the shapes of Hangul came from. Some ideas were creative, but without the original book, nobody could be sure which one was right.

In 1940, a copy of the Haerye edition was found in Andong (안동), a city in the southeast of Korea known for its old scholarly families.

At that time, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and it was a hard time for the Korean language. The book was bought by Jeon Hyeong-pil (전형필), a collector who spent his fortune protecting Korean cultural treasures. He kept the book safe. Today it is kept by the Kansong Art Museum (간송미술관) in Seoul, which grew from his collection.

The discovery was a turning point. For the first time in centuries, scholars could read the official explanation of how Hangul was designed. Many old theories could now be checked against the original source. The date written in the postface also helped people fix Hangul Day, 한글날, on October 9.

In Korea, the most important cultural objects are named 국보, National Treasures. The Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum is one of them. It is protected by law and is very rarely shown to the public.

For many Koreans, this small book is one of the most meaningful objects in the whole country. It is not made of gold or jade. It is made of paper and ink. But it holds the story of how a whole nation learned to write its own language.

In 1997, the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World register. This register lists documents that are important for all of humanity, not only for one country. In Korean, it is called 세계기록유산, 'world documentary heritage'.

In the same year, another great Korean record was also added: the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (조선왕조실록), the official day-by-day history of the Joseon kings.

UNESCO also gives an international award named after King Sejong, for people and groups who help others learn to read and write. It is called the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize. It is a fitting honor for a king who made letters so that ordinary people could read.