Hangul Day
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Template:Koreanname noimage Hangul Day — also called Hangul Proclamation Day or Korean Alphabet Day — is a Korean national commemorative day marking either the creation or the proclamation of Hangul, the native alphabet of the Korean language, by King Sejong the Great. It is observed on October 9 in South Korea and on January 15 in North Korea.
According to the Chronicle of King Sejong, King Sejong published Hunmin Jeongeum, the document introducing the newly-created alphabet which was also originally called by the same name, in the ninth month of the lunar calendar in 1446. In 1926, the Chosŏnŏ Yŏn'guhoe(조선어연구회; 朝鮮語硏究會; now known as Hangul Hakhoe), or the Korean language research society, celebrated the octo-sexagesimal(480th) anniversary of the declaration of Hangul on the last day of the ninth month of lunar calendar, which is on November 4 of the Gregorian calendar. Members of Hakhoe declared it the first observance of "Gagyanal". The name came from "Gagyageul", an early colloquial name for the alphabet based on a mnemonic recitation beginning "gagya geogyeo". The name of the commemorative day was changed to "Hangullal" in 1928, soon after the term "Hangul" coined originally in 1913 by Ju Si-gyeong became widely accepted as the new name for the alphabet. The day was first celebrated according to the lunar calendar.
In 1931, the celebration of the day switched to October 29 of the Gregorian calendar. In 1934 arose the claim that they must assume the Julian calendar was used in 1446, so the day was again changed to October 28.
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The discovery in 1940 of an original copy of the Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye, a volume of commentary to the Hunmin Jeongeum that appeared not long after the document it commented upon, revealed that the Hunmin Jeongeum was announced during the first ten days (sangsun) of the ninth month. By the Julian calendar, the tenth day of the ninth month of 1446 of the lunar calendar was on October 9. After the South Korean government was established in 1945, it declared Hangul Day a legal holiday to be marked on October 9, on which governmental workers are excused from work.
In 1991, its legal status as a holiday was removed in 1991 due to pressure from major employers to increase the number of working days, along with the introduction of the Korean United Nations Day. However, Hangul Day still retains legal status as a national commemoration day. The Hangul Hakhoe has campaigned to restore the holiday's former status, but with little impact.
North Korea celebrates the equivalent Chosŏn'gŭl Day on January 15 to mark the day in 1445 (1444 in lunar calendar) believed to be that of the actual creation of Hunmin Jeongeum.
Some American and German linguists celebrate this day yearly to recognise the creation of the Korean alphabet as a linguistic achievement of global significance.