Hangeul unites people through culture, not imperial power, says scholar

Robert Fouser, an American scholar and linguist, says the global spread of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, is an interesting phenomenon in an era of increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) that bonds people culturally without aggression, unlike other languages that have found inroads through religious or colonial imposition. “It (Hangeul) has an interesting role, perhaps, as a kind of language that brings people together as with K-pop fans, and that's related to its history of not being an aggressive language in terms of dominating through religion or control through imperialism,” Robert Fouser, an independent scholar, said during a video interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday. In June, he published his seventh Korean-language book, titled “The Spread of Writing Systems,” which traces the creation, evolution and spread of writing systems across human history. In addition to his native English, Fouser speaks multiple Asian and European languages, including fluent Korean and Japanese. He has also studied Latin, Middle Korean and Esperanto. With a unique career path spannin