To mark the centennial of Hangeul Day, the National Hangeul Museum is stepping up its drive to expand its collection of cultural heritage associated with the Korean alphabet, with a focus on public donations. Designating 2026 as the Year of Hangeul Heritage Donations, the museum is launching a nationwide campaign to encourage the sharing and preservation of materials that embody the spirit of the Korean writing system. Since its founding in 2014, the museum has amassed roughly 105,000 items ranging from early manuscripts and rare 20th-century publications to typewriters. Of these, nearly 30,000 have entered the collection through donations. Last year alone, 172 objects were donated, among them a rare 1939 first edition of Chae Man-sik’s “The Muddy Current.” Originally serialized in a local daily newspaper between 1937 and 1938, the novel is widely regarded as a landmark of modern Korean literature. Set in the port city of Gunsan in the 1930s, it offers an unflinching portrait of the hypocrisy, greed and moral decay that had seeped into Korean society during the Japanese colonial pe
Rare first edition of Chae Man-sik’s ‘The Muddy Current’ enters National Hangeul Museum
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