Diving Deep Into Korea

  KOREA'S NATIONAL FOUNDATION DAY Gaecheonjeol — The Day the Sky Opened 개천절 (開天節) October 3 — the day Korea marks the legendary founding of Gojoseon, its first kingdom, in 2333 BCE. October 3 · National holiday · Legal public holiday · Dangi year 4358 What is Gaecheonjeol? Gaecheonjeol (개천절, 開天節) means "the day the sky opened." It commemorates the legendary founding of Gojoseon — Korea's first state — in 2333 BCE by Dangun Wanggeom . Since October 1, 1949, when the Act on National Holidays (Law No. 53) was enacted, it has been a national holiday alongside March 1st Movement Day, Constitution Day and Liberation Day, and commemorative ceremonies are held across the country every October 3. Name Gaecheonjeol (개천절, 開天節) · English: National Foundation Day Date October 3 (national holiday, legal public holiday) Commemorates The founding of Gojoseon by Dangun in 2333 BCE (traditional date) Founding ideal Hongik Ingan (弘益人間) — "broadly benefit all humanity" K...

  How was Hangeul, the alphabet we use every day, actually created? Hangeul is the native script of Korea, created in 1443 by King Sejong the Great and promulgated in 1446. It is far more than 'an alphabet made long ago': who created it, when, and on what principles are all recorded within the script itself — something rarely seen among the world's writing systems. In this article, we take a close look at the background of Hangeul's birth, its design principles, the history of its name and its commemorative day, and why Hangeul is drawing attention around the world today. 1. The World of Writing Before Hangeul Before Hangeul was created, written communication in Joseon Korea depended almost entirely on Chinese characters (Hanja, 漢文). As a Confucian state, Joseon used classical Chinese for administration, scholarship, and diplomacy — but Chinese characters were originally designed to record a language with entirely different word order and grammar from Korean. Korean sch...