Hangul (word processor)

Hangul (Windows)

Hangul 2010
Developer(s)	Hancom Inc.
Stable release	Hancom Office NEO / January 26, 2016
Development status	Released
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Word processor
License	Proprietary
Website	[1]

Hangul (also known as Hangul Word Processor or HWP) is a proprietary word processing application published by the South Korean company Hancom Inc.. Hangul's specialized support for the Korean written language has gained it widespread use in South Korea, especially by the government.

The software's name is derived from the Korean word Hangul (Korean: 한글, hangeul) for the alphabet used to write Korean.

Hangul saves documents in HWP format, with the filename extension *.hwp. It is one of the standard document formats of the South Korean government. It is widely used for a number of reasons: Koreans require DTP level layout features to word processor, and its unique program can process Middle Korean.

HWP files, up to the versions created with Hangul '97, can be opened with OpenOffice.org (version 4.1.1 or earlier) or LibreOffice. However, files created with later editions of Hangul, including Hangul Wordian, Hangul 2002, Hangul 2005 and Hangul 2007 cannot be opened with OpenOffice or LibreOffice, due to the major changes in the document structure. These later versions of Hangul do not provide support for opening and saving of files in Microsoft Word format, but users are not necessarily aware of this. Consequently, Korean Hangul users may often send files to non-Koreans in .hwp format, not realizing the recipient will be unable to open such files.

Hangul was intended in 2009 to gain support for reading and writing of Office Open XML and OpenDocument files.

The HWP binary format specification has been published online free by Hancom on June 29, 2010.

Haansoft released "Office 2010 SE" which is an English Edition of Hancom office that includes the following applications:

Haansoft offers a freely available Hangul document viewer program called "Hancom Office Viewer 2010 SE" (한컴오피스 뷰어 2010 SE).

Haansoft was on the verge of bankruptcy after the release of its 2002 version, due to the widespread use of illegal copies. A campaign to support the development of Korean software and promote the purchase of legal copies of Hangul allowed Haansoft to recover.