South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday said promulgation of the Korean alphabet, known as "hangeul" here, can be linked with the spirit of democracy as he joined the country in celebrating the national holiday.

Moon posted the message on his Facebook page to mark the anniversary of the Korean alphabet's promulgation. Hangeul which was invented during the reign of King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) in 1443, originally aimed to expand literacy among the general population, who could not easily learn writing system at the time which was centered on Chinese characters.

"The greatest thing about hangeul is that it's for the people and it thinks about people," Moon wrote. "King Sejong's intent for hangeul is in line with today's democracy."
 

On his Facebook post, Moon also uploaded a photo of him looking at a metal printing plate of "Weolincheongangjigok" -- a compilation of hymns written by King Sejong in hangeul -- displayed at the United Nations lobby. He was in the city to attend the UN General Assembly last month.

Moon said the South Korean government will beef up efforts to promote hangeul, so that Koreans abroad can preserve their heritage.

"In September, I met Koryoin and Sakhalin Koreans from Russia and they were working hard to preserve our language," he said. "Hangeul is a great community asset that connects our people."

Moon added that because of hangeul, Koreans were able to maintain their identity and develop culture of their own.

"We can express our thoughts properly with our language and words," he said. "Hangeul allowed us to have one of the lowest illiteracy rate in the world, achieve high-level of education, and develop a unique culture."

The chief executive then said that the greatness of hangeul is proved in the digital era because of its scientific characteristic.

"Hangeul's scientific characteristic has been proved again by its text input system on computers and cell phones," he said. "Hangeul's greatness is especially shines in this SNS (social network service) era." (Yonhap)