Senate Resolution No. 435

BY: Senator LIU

MEMORIALIZING Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim
October 9, 2021, as Hangul Day (Korean Alphabet Day)
in the State of New York

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize
official days that are set aside to enhance the profile of cultural
diversity which strengthens the fabric of the communities of New York
State; and

WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim October 9, 2021, as
Hangul Day (Korean Alphabet Day) in the State of New York, in
conjunction with the observance of National Hangul Day in South Korea;
and

WHEREAS, Hangul Day is a national Korean commemorative day marking
the invention and the proclamation of Hangul by the 15th Century Korean
monarch Sejong the Great; and

WHEREAS, Hangul Day was declared as a national holiday in South
Korea in 2013; the holiday is called Hangul Proclamation Day, or Hangul
Day for short, and commemorates the promulgation of the Hunmin Jeongeum;
and

WHEREAS, Before the creation of Hangul, people in Korea, known as
Joseon at the time, primarily wrote using classical Chinese alongside
the native phonetic writing systems that predated Hangul by hundreds of
years, including Idu, Hyangchal, Gugyeol, and Gakpil; and

WHEREAS, However, due to the fundamental differences between the
Korean and Chinese languages, and the large number of characters needed
to be learned, there was much difficulty in learning how to write using
Chinese characters for the lower classes, who often did not have the
privilege of an education; and

WHEREAS, To assuage this problem, King Sejong created this unique
alphabet to promote literacy among the common people; according to the
Sejong Sillok, King Sejong proclaimed publication of Hunmin Jeongeum,
the document introducing the newly created alphabet which was also
originally called by the same name, in the ninth month of the lunar
calendar in 1446; and

WHEREAS, In 1926, the Korean Language Society, whose goal was to
preserve the Korean language during a time of rapid forced Japanization,
celebrated the octo-sexagesimal (480th) anniversary of the declaration
of Hangul on the last day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar,
which is on November 4th of the Gregorian calendar; and

WHEREAS, Members of the Society declared it the first observance of
Gagyanal; the name came from Gagyageul, an early colloquial name for
Hangul, based on a mnemonic recitation beginning gagya geogyeo; the name
of the commemorative day was changed to Hangullal in 1928, soon after

the term Hangul, coined originally in 1913 by Ju Si-gyeong, became
widely accepted as the new name for the alphabet; and

WHEREAS, The day was then celebrated according to the lunar
calendar; in 1931, the celebration of the day was switched to October
29th of the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar which is in contemporary
use; and

WHEREAS, Three years later, the date was moved to October 28th, to
coordinate the date with that of the Julian Calendar, which had been in
use during the 15th Century when King Sejong made his proclamation; and

WHEREAS, The discovery in 1940 of an original copy of the Hunmin
Jeongeum Haerye, a volume of commentary to the Hunmin Jeongeum that
appeared not long after the document it commented upon, revealed the
Hunmin Jeongeum was announced during the first 10 days of the ninth
month; and

WHEREAS, The 10th day of the ninth month of the 1446 lunar calendar
was equivalent to October 9th of that same year's Julian calendar; the
South Korean government, established in 1945, declared October 9th to be
Hangul Day, a yearly legal holiday which excused government employees
from work; and

WHEREAS, Major employers pressured the South Korean government to
increase the country's annual number of work days; in 1991, to balance
out the adoption of the United Nations Day, it vacated Hangul Day's
status as a holiday; by law, Hangul Day remained a national
commemoration day, and the Hangul Society campaigned for the holiday's
restoration; and

WHEREAS, On November 1, 2012, the Society won that campaign, when
the National Assembly voted 189 to 4 (with 4 abstaining) in favor of a
resolution that called for the return of Hangul Day as a national
holiday; and

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that when methods
of communication, such as Hangul, are created and brought to our
attention, they should be celebrated and recognized by all the citizens
of this great Empire State; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim October 9, 2021, as
Hangul Day (Korean Alphabet Day) in the State of New York; and be it
further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of
New York.