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DATE: Tuesday. June 9, 2026. 7:20PM (Seoul)
VENUE: Seoul Public Activities Center (SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터). ‘다목적홀’ (For more information, see below.)
SUMMARY:
Hangeul is one of the best-known, but also one of the youngest scripts in the world. It is a rare example of a writing system created for a language that had long used a script borrowed from another language. Linguists have praised Hangeul for its efficient design that reflects phonological features of Korean. Koreans take pride in Hangeul as one of Korea’s greatest cultural achievements and as a symbol of independence from hegemonic neighbors.
In this lecture, I examine three points of contention in discussions of Hangeul’s creation, spread, and eventual dominance. The first point is the question of who developed Hangeul. The majority opinion holds that King Sejong (r. 1418–1450) created Hangeul by himself beginning in 1443 and promulgated it in 1446. A minority opinion, however, argues that King Sejong received significant help and that he should not be considered the sole creator. The second point is the question of which, if any, scripts influenced the development of Hangeul. Standard history presents Hangeul as a unique creation free of influence from other writing systems. Some scholars, such as the late Gari Ledyard, however, have suggested that the ʼPhags-pa script—a Tibetan-derived unified writing system for the languages of the Yuan Dynasty commissioned by Kublai Khan (r. 1260–1294)—influenced the shape of some Hangeul letters. Other scholars have speculated about possible influence from Indian scripts through Buddhist manuscripts. The third point is the question of the dissemination of Hangeul during the Joseon Dynasty. Established views cast Hangeul as peripheral to classical Chinese (Hanmun) until nationalists and Christian missionaries revived it at the end of the 19th century. More recent interpretations have focused on the steady spread of Hangeul through women’s writing and the popularity of novels written in Hangeul in the later Joseon period. I close by offering my own views on these questions and reflecting on their significance for a fuller understanding of Hangeul.
BIO:
Robert J. Fouser holds a B.A. in Japanese language and literature, and an M.A. in applied linguistics, both from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from Trinity College Dublin. He studied Korean language at Seoul National University in the 1980s. He lived in Japan from 1995 to 2008 where he taught foreign language education at Kyoto University and developed the Korean language program at Kagoshima University. From 2008 to 2014, he taught in the field of Korean as a second/foreign language at Seoul National University. He is currently an independent scholar based in Providence, Rhode Island.
He is the author of six books in Korean, including Oegugeo jeonpadam [The Spread of Foreign Languages], Robeoteu paujeo ui dosi tamgugi [Exploring Cities with Robert Fouser] – revised and expanded as Tosi dokbeop [How to Read Cities] 2024, – Oegugeo hakseupdam [Thoughts on Learning Foreign Languages], and Tosi neun wae yeoksa reul bojonhaneunga [Why Do Cities Preserve History?] (2024). His next book in Korean, Munja jeonpadam [The Spread of Writing Systems], will be published in June 2026. He is also the translator of Understanding Korean Literature (1997) by Kim Heunggyu and a co-author of Hanok: The Korean House (2015, revised 2024). He writes regular columns in English and Korean for various media outlets in Korea.
ADMISSION (Online & In-person): Free for RAS Korea Lifetime and Annual Members; W10,000 for Non-members; W5,000 for Non-member students (Student ID requested)
VENUE:
Seoul Public Activities Center (SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터) is located at Yongsan Verdium Friends #101 (용산베르디움프렌즈 101동) B1, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Walk 2-3 minutes from ‘Exit 8’ of Samgakji Station (LINE 6 & 4) and take the elevator down to the B1 Floor.
Address: B1, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan Verdium Friends #101, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
