Hangul for the world?

The Chosun Ilbo recently published a rather odd little editorial about foreigners learning Korean. A typical article like this just goes ra-ra, hangul is awesome and scientific, but this one is special, mixing it in an unappealing mix of anti-Americanism and racism towards Southeast Asians, and a strange call for a radical restructuring of the Korean language itself. Take a look.

The ranks of foreigners learning hangul are growing. Not to the same degree as us learning English, but still, many foreigners are coming in to learn our language. I heard that last year the number of international students from foreign countries passed 30,000 for the first time. Of course the greatest number of them is from Southeast Asia but it’s welcome news anyway. Of course they must study hangul, the native tongue. Not only that but we wonder how many people will learn hangul. Last year, while living in Hanoi, author Yeon Su-cha worked to check up on the “Hangul Wind” there. It’s the result of our economy’s growth and of the Korean Wave. At the three universities in Hanoi, there is stiff competition to enter the Korean courses and after graduation, the employment rate is 100%.

In today’s world, we can say the planet is becoming a global village. Last year the number of Koreans who traveled abroad reached 10 million while the number of foreign tourists who came to Korea was 6 million. Our daily lives are being globalized and American stock prices have an immediate effect on our markets. The war in Iraq is causing neighboring countries to experience war and suffering too. The destruction of oil refineries in the desert region is directly connected to our domestic existence. There is no more center. Anyplace can be a center or a fringe.

In any case, foreigners learning Korean all say that our hangul is just too difficult. You might ask why learning a foreign tongue is difficult. We learn English for 10 years or more and, though we cannot speak it perfectly, it’s enough to guess at the meaning of even difficult things while in our language, the special thing is high speech levels. High speech is divided into distinct parts, which causes grumbling among foreigners who study hangul in confusion. Among all the parts of our grammar this is the most difficult.

For the globalization of hangul, it would be best if these exceptions were reduced and basic rules elevated. In general though, doesn’t everything have to be developed into an easier form of use? In this age of globalization, I wonder if our hangul doesn’t need to evolve so more can use it.