Which script was invented for the Korean language?

The script invented for the Korean language is Hangul. It was developed in Joseon Korea under King Sejong the Great to make reading and writing more accessible than the Chinese-character system then used by the elite.

The script was largely completed around 1443–1444 and officially promulgated in 1446 through Hunminjeongeum, meaning “The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People.” Its letters, called jamo, were designed to represent consonants and vowels systematically. Several consonant shapes reflect the position of the speech organs, while additional strokes indicate related sounds.

Hangul is an alphabet, but its letters are grouped into visually compact syllable blocks. That arrangement can make it look syllabic, even though the individual components represent consonants and vowels. Modern South Korean orthography counts 24 basic letters, which combine into many syllable blocks.

Katakana and Hiragana are Japanese kana scripts, while Kanji refers to Chinese characters used in Japanese. Korea historically used Hanja, the Korean name for Chinese characters, before Hangul became dominant.