I Never Knew...

"I never knew."  This seems to be a recurring phrase for me since I moved to Korea.

I never knew the Korean people are so friendly and welcoming of foreigners.

I never knew the Korean alphabet was so easy to learn.

I never knew the Korean public transportation system is so amazing.

I never knew Seoul is so safe for being the second largest city in the world.

The list of things I never knew about Korea just keeps growing and growing.  And today I added a new one...I never knew the Korean alphabet was created by a king who wanted to give language to his people.  Today Pete had the day off work, and since the kids did NOT have the day off school, we had a great date day.  We headed downtown to the museum and statue of King Sejong.  Here's me pretending to be him.

King Sejong is one of Korea's most beloved rulers.  He was the 4th king of the Joseon Dynasty ruling in the early 1400s.  While he didn't live a long life, what he accomplished during his reign is astounding.  It makes me wonder how I went through 16 years of schooling and never heard this man's name.

King Sejong's most famous accomplishment is definitely the Korean alphabet.  As a young leader he realized the people had no control over their lives because they couldn't read or understand the legal documents they signed or the laws they were supposed to keep.  He wanted everyone, including peasants, to understand the laws.  He even went as far as wanting to give commoners equal freedoms.  He recognized that the people couldn't be a part of the upper class because they couldn't read or write.  At this time the Koreans were using Chinese as their written language.  King Sejong recognized that the spoken Korean language was very different from the written Chinese.  He wanted a language that, when written, looked and sounded like what was spoken.  He gathered scholars from around the world to help him create a language that would be easy for the common man to read.  That is how modern day Korean, known as Hangul  was created.  The characters were formed to look similar to the shape the tongue should make while saying the sound.  What a great idea.  What an amazing king.

We also visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace and enjoyed the changing of the guard.  

Here's a short video.

It was a fun day off in Seoul.