Japanese, American professors recognized with Order of Culture Merit for promoting Hangeul

A government ceremony officially recognizing those who have helped promote Korea’s writing system Hangeul will be held on Hangeul Day, which is recognized each year on Oct. 9.

Miyuki Hamanoue, a professor of the Korean language at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan, and Dafna Zur, a professor teaching Korean literature at Stanford University in California, will receive the Order of Culture Merit, the highest recognition by the Korean government, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Hamanoue will receive the fourth-highest recognition in the Order, while Zur is to get the fifth in the five-tiered merit system. Hamanoue is credited with publishing an academic journal of the Korean language while Zur is recognized for spreading Hangeul.

Culture Merit Medals, a level lower than the Order, will be awarded to Kim Bok-soon, a lecturer at the state-run National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, and Lee Katharina, a professor at Irkutsk State University in Russia.

Commendations -- either in the name of the president, prime minister or a Cabinet minister -- will go to six individuals and groups.

Meanwhile, the Sejong Culture Award will be presented to four people and the team that translated the epic “Land,” by Park Kyung-ni, at a ceremony taking place Friday afternoon at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, on the sidelines of a ceremony to launch Hangeul Week.