The Korean language, like Hungarian,Mongolian, is classified as a Ural-Altaic Language group. Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, is composed of 10 simple vowels and 14 consonants. A group of scholars under the patronage of King Sejong developed this systematic rendition of spoken sound in 1443. It is widely acclaimed by linguists as an ingenious invention. The chart on this page presents the Romanization of the 24 letters. This Romanization is based on the new Romanization system proclaimed in 2000 by the Korean government. However, because all the road signs and information boards that are based on McCune-Reischauer system, the old official Romanization cannot be changed immediately, there might be some coexistence of the two system through 2005.