STEP 7 · 26,000 Pages Saved From Prison
Before the name "Hangul" existed,
the people who fought to protect it
For 450 years after its creation, Hangul was dismissed as "vulgar script." One man renamed it "Hangul" — and 33 scholars later died in prison protecting its dictionary.
말모이
The dictionary they died protecting
The nationwide "Word Collection" operation
1921~
Collecting words nationwide
33 scholars formed the Korean Language Society and gathered over 160,000 dialect words and vocabulary from teachers, students, and ordinary people across the country.
1933
Standardizing spelling
They completed the Unified Hangul Orthography — the direct ancestor of the spelling rules used today.
1942
Dying in prison
Japan framed the dictionary project as an independence movement, arresting and torturing the scholars. Lee Yun-jae and Han Jing died in prison.
How did the manuscript everyone thought was burned actually survive?