1969년 한글 자판 표준화: 한글 기계화의 분수령

Abstract

This article critically reviews the state-led standardization of Korean typewriter keyboard in 1969, which became the precursor of the current standard Korean keyboard for personal computers and other electronic devices. By the early 1960s, various kinds of Korean typewriters had been developed by amateur inventors. Market for the Korean typewriters also emerged from scratch, but the diversity of typing mechanism and key arrangement was soon considered to be the main obstacle against further growth of the typewriter market, which was believed to be synonymous to the modernization of Korean language. South Korean state intervened to the market, to establish a new standard keyboard in 1969. The standard keyboard, however, faced severe criticisms from the existing typewriter makers, because the government did not acknowledge any existing keyboard and mandated an entirely new keyboard based on a new mechanism. The Yushin dictatorship could manage to silence dissenting voices and successfully propagate the new standard keyboard, by officially approving it as a part of formal education. The standard typewriter keyboard was modified again in 1983 to be compatible with electronic devices, and has become stabilized as the national standard along with the popularization of personal computer in South Korea. However, some of the amateur inventors, including the celebrity ophthalmologist Kong Pyung Woo, did not endorse the standardization imposed from above, and carried on ctiticism against the standard keyboard and advocation of their own minority machines. Their dissidence was often mixed with protest against the dictatorship, and this overlap in turn served as moral justification of the marginalized keyboard for its advocates.