Statue of King Sejong (Gwanghwamun)
The statue of King Sejong was dedicated on 9 October 2009, in a ceremony attended by attended by President Lee Myung-bak and other Korean government official, on a Hangul Day in celebration of the 563rd anniversary of the invention of the Korean alphabet by King Sejong, two months after the Gwanghwamun Plaza opening. The golden statue is 6.2 meters high (another source gives the statue height as 9.5 meters and yet another, 6.7 meters) and weights 20 tons. The king has one hand raised and another placed on a book. Sides of the statue display all of the hangul alphabet characters. In front of the statue there are small models of a celestial globe, a rain gauge, and a sundial, the invention of which is also traditionally attributed to King Sejong in Korea. While King Sejong is best remembered for his invention of hangul, he is also considered to have been involved in promotion of agriculture, literature, science and technology, as well as Confucian philosophy, in Korea.
Choe Sejin
Choe Sejin is mostly known for his 1527 work, "Hunmong Jahoe" (훈몽자회). It is a textbook for children to learn the Chinese characters, and is known to be very practical in its teachings. During the Joseon Era, literacy in Chinese was an essential skill for advancement in society. Chinese was the dominant language of literature at this time, and children were taught Chinese from an early age to prepare for the future. Although hangul, the Korean orthography, existed by this time, it was not widely used in the country. Choe wanted to promote the usage of hangul through his work "Hunmong Jahoe". As a textbook for children to learn Chinese, "Hunmong Jahoe" incorporated hangul in the textbook to promote both the learning of Chinese characters, as well as hangul. The Chinese characters were annotated in hangul, and in order for one to understand and learn the Chinese characters, one must have a full grasp of hangul first to comprehend the annotations. Choe wanted people to use hangul more extensively, and he thought that this would encourage people to take some time to fully learn hangul, before starting to learn Chinese. He wrote that "it would take [only a single day] to learn Hangul", commenting on the simplicity of hangul, and afterwards, one would be able to learn Chinese on their own without an instructor if one knew hangul and utilized his textbook.