Christianity in Korea
Hangul, a phonemic Korean alphabet invented around 1446 by scholars in the court of Sejong the Great, was little used for several centuries because of the perceived cultural superiority of Classical Chinese (a position similar to that of Latin in Europe). However, the Catholic Church became the first Korean religious organization to officially adopt Hangul as its primary script. Bishop Siméon-François Berneux mandated that all Catholic children be taught to read it. Christian literature printed for use in Korea, including that used by the network of schools established by Christian missionaries, mostly used the Korean language and the easily learned Hangul script. This combination of factors resulted in a rise in the overall literacy rate, and enabled Christian teachings to spread beyond the elite, who mostly used Chinese. As early as the 1780s, portions of the Gospels were published in Hangul; doctrinal books such as the "Jugyo Yoji" (주교요지) appeared in the 1790s and a Catholic hymnal was printed around 1800.
Korean mixed script
In 1446, King Sejong the Great (朝鮮 世宗大王, 조선 세종대왕) introduced "hunminjeong-eum" (訓民正音, 훈민정음), 'correct pronunciation for teaching the people' in a proclamation, published with extensive description of the new alphabet. Sejong begins the document (in literary Chinese), 'Because our language is different from the Chinese language, our poor people cannot express themselves in Chinese writing. In my pity for them I create twenty-eight letters, which all can learn easily and use in their daily lives.' This script is now known as "hangul" in South Korea and "choseongul" in North Korea, with the proclamation celebrated as national holidays on the 9th of October in the south and the 15th of January in the north, respectively.
The new script spread rapidly among the segments of society that were traditionally denied access to education, such as women (except those in the higher classes), farmers, fishermen, rural merchants and children. Despite later attempts to ban the Korean alphabet, as commoners wrote disparaging this about rulers they disliked, and the fear that the upper classes would lose the privileges of being literate in Chinese led to attempts to ban the alphabet, but "hangul" survived. The twenty-eight letters, arranged into syllable blocks, actually facilitated the study of "hanja" as they were used in teaching guides to indicate the native word and the Sino-Korean pronunciation, and the upper class, despite their disdain, would often have to study the "gugyeol" system of knowing a Chinese character's meaning, Sino-Korean pronunciation and its native Korean equivalent, and "hangul" thus became an important tool in teaching "hanja". Nevertheless, its use as an exclusive writing system was mocked by the upper classess as "jinseo" (真書, 진서) or 'real script.'