South Korea's alphabet enabled the general population to use it.
The Korean alphabet , known as Hangul in South Korea ( also transcribed Hangeul ) and as Chosŏn ` gŭl / Chosŏn Muntcha in North Korea is the alphabet that has been used to write the Korean language since the 15th century . Now , the alphabet is the official script of both South Korea and North Korea , and co-official in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County of China 's Jilin Province . In South Korea , Hangul is used primarily to write the Korean language , as using Hanja ( Chinese characters ) in typical Korean writing had fallen out of common usage during the late 1990s . South Korea . Hangul enabled anyone in the general Korean population to easily learn to read and write and transfer written information rather than spending years learning complicated ancient Chinese .