More than 1,000 Hangeul Fonts Developed... Late Sandoll Founder Seok Geum-ho Posthumously Awarded Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit

[Financial News] The late Seok Geum-ho, founder of Sandoll, will be posthumously awarded the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for developing and distributing more than 1,000 Hangeul fonts.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 6th, eight individuals and two organizations were selected as recipients of the 2026 Contributions to Hangeul Development awards. The awards will be presented at the celebration ceremony for the 580th Hangeul Day, to be held at 10 a.m. on the 9th at Sejong Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The late Seok founded the font company Sandoll and spent more than 40 years developing Hangeul typefaces, enabling Hangeul to be displayed in a variety of forms on computers.
Fonts are a tool that can convey different impressions even when using the same Hangeul, depending on how it is used. Recognizing font development through these awards signifies that the value of Hangeul has also been acknowledged in the field of design used in everyday life.
Baek Tae-hyeon, vice president of the Korean University in Central Asia, will receive the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit. He has continued Korean-language education and research on ethnic Koreans in Central Asia for about 30 years and led efforts to establish two Korean universities in Kyrgyzstan.
The Cultural Merit Medal will go to Jo Su-jin, chair of the Council of Korean Schools in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and Choe Hong-sik, chair of the King Sejong Memorial Association. Jo developed a Korean-language curriculum for Korean American students, while Choe published "Phonetics of Hunminjeongeum" and researched the principles behind the creation of the script.
The Presidential Citation will be awarded to Lee Yeong-jun, a professor at Hirosaki University who has held Korean-language speaking contests in Japan; Tashkent Weekend Hangeul School; and the Korea Institute of Australian National University.
Tashkent Weekend Hangeul School has taught Hangeul to the children of Korean nationals living abroad, while the Korea Institute of Australian National University has continued to support Hangeul schools and promote literary translation and scholarship exchanges.
The recipients of the Prime Minister's Citation are Kim Gyeong-seok, chair of the Korea Speech·Eloquence Association; Laura Tamosiuniene, an associate professor at Mykolas Romeris University; and Chi Seowon, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.
They contributed, respectively, to promoting Korean-language speech and oratory, establishing a bachelor's program in Korean studies in Lithuania, and launching a Korean-language program in Singapore.
Myeong Su-hyeon, a cultural policy officer at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "The MCST will continue to provide steady support for educational and exchange activities that nurture the value of Hangeul and connect people who wish to learn Korean."

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