Hangul Day in Korea: October 9, the 2027 Monday Off, and What Closes
Short answer: what is Hangul Day? Hangul Day (한글날, Hangeullal) is October 9, a full public holiday in South Korea that marks the publication of the Korean alphabet in 1446. Banks, government offices, post offices and schools close; shops, restaurants, palaces, museums and the subway run (the subway on its holiday timetable). Hangul Day 2026 was Friday 9 October. Hangul Day 2027 falls on Saturday 9 October, and under Korea's substitute-holiday rule the day off moves to Monday 11 October, so 9–11 October 2027 is a three-day weekend. The week before has one too: 개천절 (National Foundation Day) is Sunday 3 October, with Monday 4 October off.
Last updated: 22 October 2026. The 2027 dates are from the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute's 2027 holiday table and the Korea AeroSpace Administration's 2027 calendar (29 June 2026); the substitute rule is quoted from the 관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정 as amended 30 April 2026; the 2026 recap is from the culture ministry's releases of 2 and 6 October 2026.
Spend Hangul Day learning the letters: the Korean Alphabet with Writing Workbook (Introductory Guide to Hangeul, Vol. 1)Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Hangul Day at a Glance
| Date | October 9, every year. Solar calendar, never moves |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Friday 9 October (passed). The 580th anniversary of the alphabet's publication and the 100th of the first Hangul Day |
| 2027 | Saturday 9 October → substitute holiday Monday 11 October. Three days off: Sat 9 – Mon 11 |
| 2028 | Monday 9 October. A weekday, so no substitute day |
| Also October 2027 | 개천절 Sunday 3 October → substitute Monday 4 October. Two three-day weekends in a row (2–4 and 9–11 Oct) |
| Closed | Banks, government and district offices, post offices, schools, most neighbourhood clinics |
| Open | Shops, department stores, restaurants, cafés, convenience stores, palaces, museums. Subway and buses on the holiday timetable |
| National Hangeul Museum | Closed until the second half of 2028 (fire recovery and expansion) |
| Go here instead | Gwanghwamun Square: the King Sejong statue, the free 세종이야기 hall under the square, and the free National Museum of Korean Contemporary History |
Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook & Dictionary — worth more on a public holiday than on any normal day. The staffed information desks that would otherwise help you are exactly the things that close on October 9. A pocket phrasebook does not. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
See the phrasebook on AmazonHangul Day 2027: Saturday 9 October, Monday 11 October Off
The 2027 calendar (every Korean public holiday in 2027) was published on 29 June 2026, when the Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청) issued the 2027 월력요항, the official basis for every Korean calendar. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute's 2027 holiday table lists October like this:
| Date (2027) | Day | Holiday |
|---|---|---|
| 3 October | Sunday | 개천절 (National Foundation Day) |
| 4 October | Monday | 대체공휴일 (substitute for 개천절) |
| 9 October | Saturday | 한글날 (Hangul Day) |
| 11 October | Monday | 대체공휴일 (substitute for Hangul Day) |
Why Monday the 11th? Article 3 of the 관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정 (Regulations on Public Holidays of Government Offices) says that when a national day (국경일) such as Hangul Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday (토요일이나 일요일과 겹치는 경우), "the first non-holiday after that holiday" (그 공휴일 다음의 첫 번째 비공휴일) becomes a substitute holiday. Sunday the 10th is already a holiday, so the first non-holiday is Monday the 11th. The article was rewritten in that form in August 2021, which is when Hangul Day started qualifying.
What that means for a trip:
- Both October 2027 weekends are national three-day breaks. KTX seats, intercity buses and hotels in Busan, Gyeongju and Jeju fill on 2–4 and 9–11 October, and the Friday-evening trains (1 and 8 October) go first. Since 1 October 2026 Korail sells tickets two months before departure (it was one month), so the window for 8 October 2027 opens around 8 August.
- Monday 11 October is the day things are actually closed. Banks and government offices shut on Saturdays anyway; the substitute Monday is when a visa appointment, a bank counter or a post-office parcel becomes impossible.
- Check Monday openings. Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and many museums normally close on Mondays. How they handle Monday 11 October 2027 had not been published when we checked; look at the Royal Palaces site (royal.khs.go.kr) the week before.
2027 is an ordinary anniversary, the 581st since 1446, so expect a smaller programme than 2026's centenary.
What Closes and What Stays Open
The commercial city barely notices a Korean public holiday; the administrative city stops.
Closed: bank counters (cash machines work), government and district offices, immigration offices, post offices, schools, universities, and most neighbourhood clinics outside hospitals. Visa extensions, address registration, parcels at the counter and new bank accounts all wait for the next working day.
Open: the subway and buses on the weekend-and-holiday timetable, with last trains passing central Seoul stations at about 23:44–23:59 rather than 00:40–00:58 (our last-train guide has the line-by-line times from Seoul Metro's data); taxis, department stores, Olive Young, convenience stores, restaurants, cafés, cinemas and markets. Holidays are strong retail days.
Open and busier than usual: palaces and museums. On a Saturday Hangul Day like 2027's every Seoul palace is open on the 9th (Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo close on Tuesdays, the others on Mondays).
The gap that catches visitors: pharmacies. Many neighbourhood pharmacies close, and the rota of 당번약국 (on-duty pharmacies) is thin. Buy anything you take daily the day before.
Skip the National Hangeul Museum: It Is Shut Until 2028
Many English Hangul Day guides still send you to 국립한글박물관 (the National Hangeul Museum) in Yongsan. It has been closed since October 2024 for an expansion. On 1 February 2025, during that work, a fire burned out the 3rd and 4th floors; firefighters took 6 hours 42 minutes to put it out. The stored collection, about 89,000 items, was undamaged and was moved to the National Museum of Korea and the National Folk Museum. The museum's homepage still says, as of 22 October 2026: 국립한글박물관은 화재 피해 시설 복구 및 기존 증축공사를 위해 2028년 하반기까지 휴관합니다 — closed until the second half of 2028. There are no hours or ticket prices to give you.
The museum now exhibits in other buildings, and two shows are open right now:
- 《일구이륙 무한이륙》 (From 1926 to Infinity), the Hangul Day centenary exhibition, until 9 February 2027, 3rd floor of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History (대한민국역사박물관), 198 Sejong-daero, on Gwanghwamun Square. The title reads 1926 digit by digit (일-구-이-륙), then swaps the second half for 무한, "infinity".
- 《점에서 세상으로: 훈맹정음 100주년》, for the 100th anniversary of Korean Braille, until 14 February 2027 at the National Museum of World Writing Systems in Songdo, Incheon.
Gwanghwamun: Where to Spend Hangul Day in Seoul
The square is where Seoul marks the day, and it works even without a festival: the statue, two free exhibitions and Gyeongbokgung are within a few hundred metres.
| 세종이야기 (The Sejong Story) | National Museum of Korean Contemporary History | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Under Gwanghwamun Square, beside 충무공이야기 (the Yi Sun-sin hall) | 198 Sejong-daero, east side of the square |
| Admission | Free | Free |
| Hours | 10:00–21:00 Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun, last entry 20:30 (Seoul's extended 야금야금 evening schedule, as reported in October 2026) | 10:00–18:00; Wed and Sat to 21:00; last entry 30 min before closing |
| Closed | Mondays | 1 January, Seollal and Chuseok days only |
| Saturday 9 Oct 2027 | Open to 21:00 if the extended schedule is still running; confirm at sejongpac.or.kr | Open to 21:00 |
Both are reached from Gwanghwamun Station (Line 5). Above them sits the 세종대왕 statue: Sejong seated with an open book, the pedestal reading 세종대왕 in plain Hangul. A good order for the day: the history museum, the hall under the square, then the statue after dark.
You might like: Seoul Palace Night Guide: Which Royal Palace to Visit and Hanbok Rental in Seoul: Palace Photos and Etiquette — both within walking distance of the Sejong statue.
Hangul Day 2026: What Actually Happened
In the centenary year, the biggest Gwanghwamun programme ran in the days before the holiday:
| When (2026) | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6–8 Oct | 2026 한글한마당-광화문: musicals, indie concerts and about 20 hands-on booths, part of the 6–17 Oct Hangul Week (한글주간) | Gwanghwamun Square |
| 8 Oct, 19:00–20:00 | Hangul Day eve: 100 lights for the centenary, K-pop group AtHeart and the band Broccoli, You Too? | Gwanghwamun Square |
| 8–11 Oct, 20:00–23:00 | 《스물넷, 우주》, a projection of the 24 Hangul letters on the gate | Gwanghwamun |
| 9 Oct, 10:00 | 580th Hangul Day ceremony, about 1,200 attendees including Hangul groups, diplomats, citizens and students | Sejong Center |
| 9 Oct | Seoul's 서울이 한글로 와글와글 activities, and hourly guided walks of the square 13:00–20:00 | Gwanghwamun Square |
| 9–11 Oct | 2026 세종한글축제: song contest, drone show, fireworks; the 10.9 km 한글런 on the 9th | Sejong City |
At the ceremony the culture ministry decorated eight individuals and two organisations for services to Hangul, among them the late 석금호, founder of the font company Sandoll, who developed about 1,000 Hangul typefaces over some 40 years, and 백태현 of Central Asia Korea University. The government expected about 34,000 people at Hangul Day events in Korea and abroad. The ceremony does not always happen in Seoul: Sejong City hosted it in 2023.
Nothing for 2027 had been announced by 22 October 2026. The pattern so far: a Hangul Week of about ten days, a square programme, a 10:00 ceremony on the day, and Sejong City's festival over the long weekend. If the square programme again runs before the holiday, it would fall around Wednesday 6 to Friday 8 October 2027. That is our inference, not an announcement; watch mcst.go.kr and gwanghwamun.seoul.go.kr in early October.
Free and cheap on the day
Hangul Day does not make palaces free; we found no free-entry notice for 9 October 2026. The free options are the everyday ones: the Sejong Story hall, the contemporary history museum, the National Museum of Korea and the square's programme. Palaces have their own free days; see our free palace Wednesdays guide. Adult palace tickets are ₩3,000 at Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung and ₩1,000 at Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung and Jongmyo. A rise had been planned for 1 January 2027, but as of 8 October 2026 the Korea Heritage Service said both the amount and the timing were undecided. Check the gate price.
Why October 9 — and Why It Used to Be November 4
Korea first marked the day in 1926, as 가갸날, on November 4, a date converted from the royal annals' "ninth lunar month of 1446". In 1940 a copy of the 훈민정음 해례본 (Hunminjeongeum Haerye), the 1446 book that explains the alphabet, surfaced in Andong. Its postface dates publication to "the first third of the ninth month" (9월 상한); converting the last day of that period gives October 9, the date used since 1946. North Korea marks January 15 instead, dated from the alphabet's creation in 1443.
The day off has moved too: removed in 1990, a commemorative day only for 22 years, a national day (국경일) from 2005, and a public holiday again from 2013. The photographs in this article are from the December 2012 Gwanghwamun event celebrating that restoration, which is why they show a winter crowd.
The Haerye itself is a design document: it lists the letters and explains each shape. The consonants are drawn from the mouth (ㄱ the tongue root, ㄴ the tongue tip, ㅁ the lips, ㅅ a tooth, ㅇ the throat), with an extra stroke for each harder sound (ㄱ→ㅋ, ㄴ→ㄷ→ㅌ). The vowels combine three strokes for heaven, earth and person. It began with 28 letters; four fell out of use, leaving today's 24. It is 국보 제70호 and on UNESCO's Memory of the World register (1997); the Andong copy is at the 간송미술관 in Seoul.
You might like: Learn Korean With Hangeul: Alphabet, Honorifics, and Apps — the alphabet takes an afternoon; it is everything after it that takes time.
Monami Fude Brush Pen — the Korean stationery brand's brush-tip pen for writing Hangul. If the square's calligraphy tables get you hooked, this is the easy way to keep practising at home: a brush feel without ink stones or cleanup, from Monami (모나미), the company behind Korea's classic 153 ballpoint. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
See the Monami brush pen on AmazonShould You Plan a Trip Around Hangul Day?
For most visitors, no: it is a day off in autumn weather, not a carnival. Use it instead:
- In Seoul anyway? Spend the afternoon and evening at Gwanghwamun, and check the Hangul Week programme for the evenings before the holiday.
- Want a festival? Sejong City over the long weekend, a day trip from Seoul. Book transport early.
- Flexible dates? The quietest stretch is between the two October 2027 long weekends (5–8 October). If you are here in November 2026, the government's Korea Grand Festival (29 Oct – 15 Nov 2026) plans free palace entry.
For the rest of 2027, see Seollal 2027 and Chuseok 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When is Hangul Day 2027, and is there a substitute holiday? Saturday 9 October 2027. Because a national day on a Saturday or Sunday gets a substitute on the next non-holiday, Monday 11 October 2027 is off; the official 2027 calendar lists it as 대체공휴일(한글날). In 2028 Hangul Day is a Monday.
Q: What is the October 9 holiday in Korea? Hangul Day (한글날), the national day for the Korean alphabet, and a public holiday since 2013.
Q: Is anything closed on Hangul Day? Bank counters, government offices, post offices and schools. Shops, restaurants, palaces, museums and public transport run; many neighbourhood pharmacies close.
Q: Can I visit the National Hangul Museum on Hangul Day? No. It is closed until the second half of 2028. Its centenary exhibition is at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History on Gwanghwamun Square until 9 February 2027, free.
Q: Is there a big Hangul Day festival in Seoul? Not a carnival. In 2026 the main Gwanghwamun programme ran 6–8 October, with a projection on the gate 8–11 October and a ceremony on the 9th. The biggest festival is in Sejong City.
Q: Why is Hangul Day on October 9? The Hunminjeongeum Haerye dates its publication to the first third of the ninth lunar month of 1446, which converts to October 9.
Sources
- KASI 2027 holiday table: https://astro.kasi.re.kr/kor/life/post/calendarData?year=2027 (read 22 Oct 2026)
- 우주항공청 2027 월력요항, via Financial News (29 Jun 2026): https://www.fnnews.com/news/202606290904291637
- 관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정, Decree No. 36290 (amended 30 Apr 2026), Arts. 2–3: law.go.kr (open API, read 22 Oct 2026)
- MCST, 2026 Hangul Week release (2 Oct 2026): https://www.mcst.go.kr/kor/s_notice/press/pressView.jsp?pSeq=22749
- MCST, 2026 Hangul development awards (6 Oct 2026): https://www.mcst.go.kr/kor/s_notice/press/pressView.jsp?pSeq=22757
- Yonhap on the 580th ceremony (8 Oct 2026): https://supple.kr/news/cmuyzf982001u1k2ua7bcppqc
- Seoul Media Hub (13 Oct 2026), guided walks: https://mediahub.seoul.go.kr/archives/2019660
- Seoul Media Hub (13 Oct 2026), Sejong Story extended hours: https://mediahub.seoul.go.kr/archives/2019649
- National Hangeul Museum homepage: https://www.hangeul.go.kr/ (read 22 Oct 2026)
- National Museum of Korean Contemporary History: https://www.much.go.kr/ (read 22 Oct 2026)
- Seoul Shinmun on the 2025 fire (3 Feb 2025): https://m.seoul.co.kr/news/2025/02/03/20250203014008
- MTN on the two-month rail booking window (20 Sep 2026): https://news.mtn.co.kr/news-detail/2026092013305778903
- Korea Times on palace fees (8 Oct 2026): https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/20261008/govt-undecided-on-plan-to-raise-admission-fees-to-royal-palaces-tombs
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