S Koreas latest export: Hangul,its alphabet

I am doing for the worlds nonwritten languages what Doctors Without Borders is doing in medicine, Lee,75,said in an interview. There are thousands of such languages. I aim to bring Hangul to all of them.

While her quest might seem quixotic to non-Koreans,in this country it is viewed with enormous pride. Newspapers have gushed,and a Korean political party praised her feat in Indonosia which Lee says involves just 50 children so far as a heroic first step toward globalising Hangul.

Such effusiveness is tied to Koreans attachment to their alphabet and what they believe its endurance says about them as a people. During Japanese colonial rule in the past century,Koreans were prohibited from using their language and alphabet in business and other official settings; schools were forbidden to teach the language.

Lees father,a linguist and professor,secretly taught his children and other students the language. She sees her mission as honouring his legacy,honouring Korea and helping the world.

Kim Ju-won,a linguist at Seoul National University and the president of the Hunminjeongeum Society,which Lee established to propagate Hangul,summarised the mission this way: By giving unwritten languages their own alphabets,we can help save them from extinction and thus ensure mankinds linguistic and cultural diversity.