The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is to present an order of cultural merit to Nam Gi-sim, former chairman of the Korean Language Deliberation Council, and Vladimir Pucek, Korean language and literature professor at Charles University in Prague, in celebration of the upcoming Hangeul Day on Oct. 9.

Nam, 75, simplified the Korean grammar system taught at public schools in the 1960s. While serving as the director of the National Institute of the Korean Language, he helped establish the “Korean Language Basic Law” to make Korean language policies and pushed forward a joint research program on regional language differences between South Korea and North Korea.

Pucek, 78, will be recognized for teaching and promoting the Korean language from 1972 to 2004 at Charles University in Prague.
 
The award ceremony will be held during the 565th Hangeul Day Celebration at Sujeongjeon in Gyeongbokgung in Seoul. 

Meanwhile, Brundi’s National Literacy Service and Mexico’s National Institute for the Education of Adults which received the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize this year will visit Korea from Oct. 6 to 12 to participate in the Hangeul Week events.

During Hangeul Week from Oct. 3-9, Hangeul exhibitions, performances and a Hangeul essay contest will be held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

On Oct. 10, KBS will air a Korean language contest program where five foreign finalists who participated in the first and second Korean language contests in 2010 and 2011 will participate as contestants.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)