Originally the system comprised 28 letters but modern Hangul now contains 24 letters - 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Hangul is an extremely easy writing system to learn. Syllables are based on 2,3 or 4 letters grouped into a character. A word comprises one or more syllables. Syllables may end in one or two consonants.
Diphthongs are also able to be constructed using a combination of two vowels.
Confucian scholarship imbued HanCha with a prestige which it still enjoys in some circles of modern Korea. During the Japanese Colonial period, the use of Hangul was seen as nationalistic and was suppressed by the Japanese. After the Korean War nationalist movements promoted the exclusive use of Hangul. With some further development, including a slightly more sophisticated spelling convention, Hangul was adopted as the official national script. President Chon Du Hwan's administration removed HanCha from school curricula although many schools have reintroduced the study of HanCha.