Late Sandoll founder Seok Geum-ho to receive posthumous Silver Crown order

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on October 6 that it had selected 10 Hangeul development awardees — eight individuals and two organizations — for its 2026 honours list, Yonhap, Asia Economy, the Seoul Economic Daily, the Dong-A Ilbo and Kyunghyang Shinmun reported. The ministry said the awards would be presented on October 9 at 10 a.m. at the Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul, during the 580th Hangeul Day celebration. Asia Economy and the Seoul Economic Daily reported that this year's honours comprise one Silver Crown Order, one Okgwan Order, two cultural medals, three presidential citations and three prime ministerial citations. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]

The top honour, a posthumous Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit, goes to Seok Geum-ho, who founded the typeface company Sandoll. The ministry credited him with developing and distributing about 1,000 Hangeul typefaces over some 40 years, saying he “laid the foundation for expressing Hangeul in diverse ways in the computer environment” and raised its cultural and artistic value, according to Yonhap, Asia Economy, the Seoul Economic Daily and Kyunghyang Shinmun. The Dong-A Ilbo gave his life dates as 1955–2024. The Newsis headline said he developed about 100 typefaces, a figure that differs from the roughly 1,000 cited by Yonhap, Asia Economy and the Seoul Economic Daily and the “more than 1,000” cited by the Dong-A Ilbo; the body text of the Newsis article concerns an unrelated hacking case and does not clarify the number. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]

The Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit goes to Baek Tae-hyun, vice president of a Central Asian Korean university, whom the Dong-A Ilbo listed as aged 65. The ministry cited his work on Korean-language education and Koryoin research in Central Asia, his role in leading the establishment of two Korean universities in Kyrgyzstan, and his contribution to training a next generation of Korean studies specialists through programmes including an international cooperation leading university project. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 ]

Cultural medals go to Cho Su-jin, head of the Mid-Central Korean School Council in the United States, for developing a Korean-language curriculum for overseas Korean students, and to Choi Hong-sik, head of the King Sejong Memorial Society, for work including the book “Hunminjeongeum Phonetics” and multidisciplinary research on the principles behind the creation of the script. The Dong-A Ilbo listed Cho as 56 and Choi as 73. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 ]

Presidential citations go to Lee Young-jun, a professor at Japan's Hirosaki University, for organizing the “Let's Speak Korean Together” event in Aomori; to the Tashkent weekend Hangeul school in Uzbekistan for teaching Hangeul and national identity to children of overseas Koreans; and to the Australian National University's Korean studies institute for Korean-language education, Hangeul school support, literary translation and scholarship exchanges. Prime ministerial citations go to Kim Kyung-seok, head of the Korea Speech and Oratory Association, credited with growing the World Korean Speech Contest into an event involving 30 countries; to Laura Tamošiūnienė, an associate professor at Lithuania's Mykolas Romeris University, who ran the Baltic region's first King Sejong Institute and opened Lithuania's first Korean studies bachelor's programme; and to Ji Seo-won, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, who set up Korean-language courses there and institutionalised a minor programme. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 7 ]

Myung Soo-hyun, a culture policy official at the ministry, said the recipients' long efforts were behind Hangeul being used in diverse ways in daily life and studied around the world, and that the ministry would continue supporting education and exchange activities, Asia Economy and the Seoul Economic Daily reported. The Korea Economic Daily carried the award in its headline, but the article text available did not cover the announcement. [ 3 , 4 , 6 ]