Korean language bill aims to encourage restaurants, cafes to use hangul

A menu banner of a restaurant is installed in a street in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, in May. [YONHAP]

A bill is being drafted to recommend cafes and restaurants to include hangul, the Korean alphabet, in their menus.

Rep. Cho Myung-hee of the People Power Party and nine other lawmakers on July 11 drafted an amendment to the Framework Act on Korean Language that recommends businesses include hangul in their menus.

The bill aims to encourage the correct use of hangul as some businesses only provide their menu written in English due to increasing indiscriminate foreign language use, Cho and the lawmakers said in their submission.

“The national and district governments shall recommend the operator of a public entertainment business such as a theater or restaurant to write notices and menus provided at the facility in hangul or write hangul on the side,” the amendment to the Korean Language Act reads.

The bill is awaiting review from the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]