While 1948 abolished Chinese characters, the movement of replacing Chinese characters with Korean proper words gradually began, but it ended in 1960.
Regarding the attitude of Chinese characters, Kim Il Sung believes that "there is no need to use Chinese characters. China, Japan and South Korea all use Chinese characters, so it is necessary to learn Chinese characters. "
According to Kim Il Sung's opinion, the Chinese character education abolished since the founding of the People's Republic of Korea in 1948 was included in the senior high school curriculum as "Chinese" education in 1968. South Korea's Proverbs Special Law, which was implemented in 1948, is the legal basis for abolishing Chinese characters according to law. The full text of the law is as follows: "Official documents of the Republic of Korea must be written in proverbs. However, in the transitional period, Chinese characters can be inserted in brackets after proverbs. " However, there are no clear provisions on the definition of official documents, the definition of transition period, the detailed rules for implementation and the punishment for violators. Legalists believe that this law is just a declaration, not a law.
In the era of Li Chengwan, Chinese characters were taught in primary schools. Park chung-hee tends to abolish Chinese characters, and in 1970, it issued a declaration of abolishing Chinese characters, totally abolishing Chinese character education in primary schools. However, public opinion strongly opposed the abolition of Chinese characters, 1972 withdrew the declaration of abolishing Chinese characters, and the Chinese subject (that is, Chinese character education) in middle schools and colleges and universities was revived. However, because Chinese is listed as an elective subject, there is almost no need for exams, which is not practical in real life, and students have no motivation to learn Chinese characters. In addition, it is forbidden to teach Chinese characters in primary schools, and primary school teachers who teach Chinese characters privately will be punished and expelled for "not cooperating with the national education policy".
1In the mid-1980s, Korean newspapers and magazines began to gradually reduce the frequency of using Chinese characters, and generally used Chinese characters to remember names and places related to China. This is because the generation with less education in Chinese characters (proverb generation) accounts for the majority, which makes the publications using Chinese characters unsalable. Proverb school does not simply ban Chinese characters, but uses proverbs instead.
However, after 1990, the voice of advocating the restoration of Chinese characters gradually rose. 1998, the National Association for the Promotion of Chinese Character Education was established, and Li was the chief of the army staff in the park chung-hee era.
The proposition of the National Chinese Character Education Promotion Association;
1. Chinese characters are the common characters in East Asia.
2. Korean/Korean should use Chinese characters like Japanese.
3. It is stipulated that primary schools must implement compulsory education of Chinese characters.
Li, the Minister of National Defense, advocated that students in the Military NCO School receive Chinese education in Chinese characters. The sudden death of Li Tiantian in 2004 also put the plan on hold. Traditional Chinese characters are ideograms, Korean is phonography, and phonography can't be distinguished without context. The official scripts of North Korea and South Korea were still Chinese characters before they were abolished. South Korea's abolition of learning Chinese characters in primary schools deprives the bottom teenagers of the opportunity to become social elites. South Korea's upper-class society and legal research are still based on Chinese characters, and it is unfair for the lower-class youth to enter the upper-class society without a good education.