AuthentiKan

From Chosun Ilbo, one of the major newspapers in South Korea:

“Seventy percent of Korean words including most conceptual and abstract nouns are made of Chinese characters. Terminology used in humanities, social studies and natural science are mostly Chinese characters. It is difficult to understand the meaning of words by pronunciation alone, without learning about the meanings of the Chinese characters that represent them. ”

“Chinese characters, which are a common method of spelling in Northeast Asia, are important means of communication in economic activities. Learning Chinese characters and developing Korean go hand in hand. In order to cultivate and refine our traditional language, we must master Chinese characters, in which Koreans used to think, learn, communicate and chronicle for almost 2,000 years.”

Links:

• Digital Chosun’s Editorial on March 14, 2007: Ignorance of Chinese is Ignorance of Korean
• PDF Archive