[Hangul Day 100th Anniversary, 4-Part Series – Part 1] Democratizing Communication and Access to Information: King Sejong's Founding Philosophy and Its Legacy for the Modern AI Revolution

The knowledge ecosystem of 15th-century Joseon was locked into a clear dual structure. The ruling apparatus and the scholar-official class (sadaebu) held a complete monopoly on knowledge, information and political power through a demanding grammatical system and tens of thousands of Chinese characters (hanja). Writing was more than a simple tool of communication; it was a powerful barrier that reinforced the status of the upper class and legitimized the ruling order. Under this monopoly of classical Chinese writing, the common people, especially socially vulnerable groups such as women and the lower classes, were cut off from appealing their grievances to the court and from accessing basic information on law, medicine and agriculture.

[Source: NY&NJ (New York and New Jersey); database use prohibited]

Under this monopoly of classical Chinese writing, the common people, especially socially vulnerable groups such as women and the lower classes, were cut off from appealing their grievances to the court and from accessing basic information on law, medicine and agriculture. This linguistic inequality, in which sound and script were disconnected, made life harder for ordinary people and created a huge bottleneck that kept the nation's knowledge from flowing down to the lower levels of society.

Hunminjeongeum (訓民正音), created by King Sejong the Great in 1443 and promulgated in 1446, was an attempt to confront this structural exclusion head-on, and it changed the landscape of the state's governing system. Troubled that the people were unable to express their will, Sejong devised an innovative writing system of 28 letters capable of capturing every sound in the world. It was the most radical attempt in Korean history to disperse the power of knowledge, carried out in defiance of fierce resistance from the establishment.

Sejong's Philosophy of Loving the People: A Leap in Access to Information for the Vulnerable and for Women

After the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum, a wave of mass literacy unlike anything before began to rise in Joseon society. Easy-to-learn Hangul quickly spread among women, the lower classes and rural commoners who had lived in the shadow of the scholar-official class. The spread of Hangul went beyond simply learning a script; it became an opportunity to decisively improve the lives and access to information of socially vulnerable people.

The court translated books directly tied to people's daily lives into Hangul and distributed them. Nongsa jikseol (Straight Talk on Farming), which covered agricultural techniques; Gugeupbang (Emergency Remedies), which covered medical knowledge; and Samgang haengsildo (Illustrated Conduct of the Three Bonds), which explained ethical values in easy terms, were published in Hangul translations (eonhaebon) and widely read among the public.

Women in particular led communication between families through naegansche (letters), and shaped their own cultural identity by enjoying Hangul novels and gasa literature. It also became more common for lower-class people facing injustice to submit Hangul petitions (sangso) to government offices to resolve their grievances, a representative result of the improved access to information that the script brought. Sejong's founding philosophy redefined writing from the exclusive property of a privileged few into a public good that improves life for all of society.

From Eonmun to Gukmun: The Flowering of Popular Culture and Modern Civilization in Late Joseon

By the late Joseon period, Hangul had become a key driving force behind the flowering of popular culture and the growth of modern civilization. As pansori lyrics were recorded in Hangul and Hangul novels such as "The Tale of Hong Gil-dong" and "The Tale of Chunhyang" were copied and circulated in large numbers on a commercial basis, ordinary people gained opportunities for critical awareness of reality and for self-discovery.

Through the Gabo Reforms of the late 19th century, Hangul finally shook off the stigma of "eonmun" (諺文), the term the scholar-officials had used to belittle it, and secured the status of "gukmun" (國文), the nation's official script. In 1894, an edict from Emperor Gojong declared that Hangul would be used as the basis for all laws and official documents, and pioneering scholars including Ju Si-gyeong laid the foundation for systematic Korean-language research.

These changes led to an explosive growth of modern literature, journalism and media in the early 20th century. Newspapers and magazines published in Hangul became a channel for swiftly delivering modern learning and the latest news to the entire population. Hangul became a vessel for the national identity and a solid backbone of the public knowledge ecosystem the country needed to leap forward.

A Historic Model for Closing the Information Gap: Hunminjeongeum Proves the Harmony of Technology and Humanity

Hunminjeongeum is more than a combination of symbols; it is a unique technical achievement that fuses phonological science with philosophical humanism. Consonants were designed to imitate the shapes of the speech organs, and vowels symbolize the three elements (samjae) of heaven, earth and humanity (天地人). Thanks to this sophisticated yet easy-to-learn structure, Hangul played a decisive role in lowering illiteracy and maximizing the efficiency of information transmission.

Sejong's creation of Hangul is an exemplary case showing what direction new technologies and media should take when they emerge in human society. It is a historical demonstration that progress for society as a whole is achieved only when technology is designed to empower those excluded from information, rather than falling into a tool for the establishment to rule.

The democratization of communication that Hangul brought became the driving force that enabled Korean society to develop rapidly, on the strength of its high enthusiasm for education and high literacy rate, through industrialization and the information age. Improved access to writing led to the popularization of knowledge, which in turn became the foundation for social dynamism and flexibility.

Implications for the AI Revolution: The Future Direction Suggested by Sejong's Philosophy of Knowledge Democracy

The "democratization of knowledge" and "guarantee of access to information" that King Sejong achieved through Hunminjeongeum raise a highly relevant question for the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and the data age we are witnessing today.

At a time when large language models (LLMs) and cutting-edge AI technology are advancing rapidly, the "AI Divide," in which AI resources and data are monopolized by global Big Tech companies or a handful of advanced nations, closely resembles the 15th-century monopoly of classical Chinese writing. There is a growing risk that groups and countries without access to AI technology will be left behind economically and socially.

At this moment, Sejong's founding philosophy offers a clear milestone for where modern AI technology should be heading. The AI revolution must not become the exclusive property of a technological elite, and it must be designed to improve access to information so that everyone, including the vulnerable and marginalized, can enjoy the benefits of technology. The legacy of inclusive knowledge sharing that Sejong demonstrated more than 580 years ago gravely reminds humanity, living in the age of artificial intelligence, of the truly human-centered values that technology should pursue.