Sejong the Great
Before the creation of Hangul, people in Korea (known as Joseon at the time) primarily wrote using Classical Chinese alongside phonetic writing systems based on Chinese script that predated Hangul by hundreds of years, including idu, hyangchal, gugyeol, and gakpil. However, due to the fundamental differences between the Korean and Chinese languages, and the large number of characters that needed to be learned, there was much difficulty in learning how to write using Chinese characters for the lower classes, who often lacked the privilege of education. To assuage this problem, King Sejong created the unique alphabet known as Hangul to promote literacy among the common people. His intention was to establish a cultural identity for Korea through its unique script.
Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong
By the time Lady Hyegyong had begun writing in the late 1700s, the invention of hangul had already become the voice of female narratives, which began to appear and allowed female narratives to become more and more plentiful. Haboush determines this increase to be correlated with the decrease of yangban women's inheritance rights. As family structures began to change, women turned to the pen “to bear public witness to history” and express for themselves how customs and family structures were changing at the time. Similarly, by writing her own autobiographical memoirs, Lady Hyegyong was able to express for herself insights into life at the Joseon Court during an extraordinary time.