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` October 9th, 2006 is the 560th anniversary of the official promulgation of Hunminjeongeum (Hangeul, the Korean writing system, was originally known as Hunminjeongum), as well as the first anniversary of Hangeul Day being designated a national holiday. Comprising a total of 28 alphabet characters, Hunminjeongeum was created in 1443 (the 25th year of the reign of King Sejong) by King Sejong (the 4th monarch of the Joseon Dynasty) for the Korean people who had no indigenous written language at the time. Hunminjeongeum was publicly announced in 1446 (the 28th year of the reign of King Sejong). Of the original 28 alphabet characters, only 24 are in current use, with ``ㆍㅿㆁㆆ`` having been phased out. It is known that the name “Hangeul” was coined in 1913 by Ju Si-Gyeong, one of the founders of modern Korean linguistics. The consonants of Hangeul, a scientific and creative writing system, were fashioned after the shapes and locations of the mouth and tongue when they generate a resonance, while its vowels were modeled after the heaven (?), earth (ㅡ) and humans (ㅣ). It is said that among the world’s 400 or so writing systems, Hangeul is the only one to have a record of the motive for its creation, its creator, and the time of its creation. In particular, Hangeul is unprecedented in that it has a separate book that explains both the logic behind how its alphabets were created and how to use them. This is why the world’s linguists greatly value Hangeul. In recognition of the unique value of Hangeul, UNESCO, in 1997, registered Hunminjeongeum as a world heritage in the field of recording. The Korean government designated Hangeul Day as a national holiday on December 29, 2005. In commemoration of the 560th anniversary of Hangeul’s creation, a new stamp is being issued. Although Hangeul Day is, by definition, a day to celebrate the creation of the Korean writing system, it should also be observed as a day to remind ourselves to love our native language, which is the very basis of Hangeul. `