Korean Braille Hunmaengjeongeum centenary exhibition opens at Incheon museum

A special exhibition marking 100 years of Hunmaengjeongeum, the Korean Braille system, is being held at the National Museum of World Writing in Incheon. Asia Economy reported the show, titled “점에서 세상으로: 훈맹정음 100주년,” opens on October 7 and runs until February 14 next year, organized jointly by the National Museum of World Writing, the National Hangeul Museum and Songam Braille Library. [ 3 ]

The exhibition marks the centenary of the script announced on November 4, 1926 by Songam Park Doo-sung (1888–1963), whose name means “the right sound for teaching those who cannot see,” echoing Hunminjeongeum. Newsis reported that the exhibition was planned not simply as a commemoration but as a place prompting the rights of social minorities and communication between blind and non-blind visitors. Curator Gu Dan-bi of the National Museum of World Writing said the message was “a world where everyone can read together,” according to Newsis. [ 3 , 4 ]

Its centerpiece is the 1926 Hunmaengjeongeum, a nationally registered cultural heritage: a single sheet with consonants placed in vertical lines and vowels in horizontal lines, each with its braille equivalent, plus abbreviations, long-vowel marks and numerals. Asia Economy reported that the drafts draw more attention than the finished work — Park's handwritten “한글점자의 유래” and the 1946 “훈맹정음의 유래,” corrected in black and blue pen and patched with extra sheets where space ran out, setting out principles such as being easy to learn, using few dots and avoiding confusion. [ 3 ]

The show also traces world braille history, with France central: tactile models of raised-letter and numeral teaching aids, a 1786 book by Valentin Haüy, who founded the first school for blind students, Charles Barbier's 12-dot board and Louis Braille's 6-dot board. It then moves to the Korean script, noting Park began researching Korean braille after becoming a teacher in the blind department of Jesaengwon in 1913, organized the Joseon Language Braille Research Committee in 1923 and announced Hunmaengjeongeum in 1926, and later organized the Joseon Blind Children's Work Association in 1940 to run braille correspondence education. A 1954 English-language braille letter from Park to Dr. Bolt of the American Foundation for Overseas Blind, explaining the need for a braille system, correspondence courses and braille devices for blind Koreans, is also displayed, Asia Economy reported. [ 3 , 4 ]

Access was built into the exhibition design. Major items, a foot-operated braille plate-making machine and a mini braille typewriter were remade as tactile models, greetings and explanations are given in braille and audio, and specialist commentary is offered for blind visitors, according to Asia Economy. Newsis reported that at the October 6 press preview, a large tactile artwork by artist Eom Jeong-soon, “코 없는 코끼리 no.7,” carried the words “you may touch it” and the description “the hand reads. The graphite disappears. The elephant remains.” [ 3 , 4 ]