This year’s Hangeul Week packed with events

The poster for Hangeul Week. (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

A competition, a music festival, lectures and a forum will take place for a week from Friday, celebrating the annual Hangeul Week to raise awareness of the Korean writing system.

Hours ahead of officially starting the weeklong event, a Hangeul contest will be held at Gyeongbokgung -- one of the five Josen-era (1392-1910) palaces in Seoul -- drawing 120 Koreans who survived regional finals and 130 foreign nationals selected for the competition.

Open lectures by book writers will follow on Friday evening at Gwanghwamun Square. Ahn Hyun-jeong, a curator and art critic who authored “Layers of Korean Beauty,” will discuss lasting Korean beauty. Lee Ha-young, the other writer to make an appearance, will talk about finding happiness in life. A musical performance will take place in between the two book talks. A fashion show emphasizing the Hangeul characters is scheduled for Saturday at the square.

From Saturday to Thursday, the state-run National Hangeul Museum will host various programs from a music festival to a puppet show and a homegrown opera. “Cheongmyeong,” a percussion performance, will headline the Saturday show. The next day, Dongchun Circus, the country’s first circus troupe, will deliver a performance.

A puppet show is slated for Monday to commemorate King Sejong, the architect of the Korean writing system. Original mini-musicals and mini-operas will take place through Thursday, with cheerleading performances by children.

After observing Hangeul Day, a national holiday falling on Oct. 9, the National Hangeul Museum will open the annual International Museum Forum to wrap up the Hangeul celebrations this year. The two-day event, to be attended by museum officials, academics and practitioners from overseas, will discuss the restoration of human dignity and the protection of ecosystems and the environment under the theme of “Heaven, Earth, Human and Museum.”

Last year’s inaugural forum drew over 200 participants, including members of the International Council of Museums, who discussed steps language museums could take in the face of rapid digitization in all fields.

The forum will be more resourceful in proposing ways to not only promote Hangeul but help resolve global crises like climate change, according to Kim Il-hwan, the director of the National Hangeul Museum. “Our job is to raise awareness of Hangeul and do more than that as we mark our 10th anniversary,” Kim said.

Meanwhile, Korean Cultural Centers overseas will invite locals to activities like creating their Hangeul names during the Hangeul Week.