The printing skill in Korea evolved from woodblock printing, a technique which was developed at the beginning of the 8th century. The world's oldest surviving woodblock print is the Pure Light Dharani Sutra, a small Buddhist scroll discovered inside the Seokgatap pagoda in Bulguksa Temple. Historians estimate that it was printed in the silla period around 751. Woodblock printing was one of the greatest of all Goryeo's accomplishments in arts and crafts. Its monumental heritage is the 80,000 woodblocks for printing the Tripitaka Koreana Buddhist sutras. The first movable metal type in the world evolved in Korea from woodblock printing. It was invented in 1232 while the Goryeo government was in exile on Ganghwado Island during the Mongolian invasion. This was about two hundred years before Gutenberg brought out his bible in 1455. The earliest record of it is in Donggugisanggukjip, the collected essays of Counselor Yi Gyubo (1168-1241). It notes that in 1234 he had 28 copies of the Sangjeongyemun (Codes of Etiquette) printed with movable metal type. Jikjisimcheyojeol (Collected Zen Buddhist Sermons) was printed in 1377 in Heungdeoksa Temple. The technique spread widely. The Annals of the Goryeo Dynasty record that Seojeokjeom, a state publishing office, was set up by King Gongyang in 1392 in Gaegyeong, the capital. Examples of early Korean movable metal type are on display in Paris and in the National Museum of Korea. On the basis of Goryeo tradition, the central government of the Joseon Dynasty improved casting and typesetting methods. The dynasty's 3rd king, Taejong, established a type casting bureau called Jujaso. From that time on, government publications and the collected works of outstanding scholars were printed in large quantity. As witnessed by many priceless remnants and old records, Korean printing and plate making techniques had already reached an advanced level in those early days.

The process of printing with Korean movable metal type can be divided into four steps : character carving (or syllable carving, in the case of writing in the Korean alphabet, Hangeul), mold making, casting, and printing. Type was cast in two different ways. One was wax-casting. Each character was carved in wax and the type cast from this mold. This method gave a lot of trouble because any repeated character was carved over again, with resulting variation from occurrence to occurrence. The other way, sand-casting, was used from the time of the creation of the Chojogabinja type of the early Joseon Dynasty. Characters were carved in mirror image relief on boxwood first, then pressed into the sand box, where the type was molded. The metal type was then arranged on a matrix plate. Ink was covered evenly over the type and rice paper placed on the type and rubbed. This method gave a regular size of characters and regular spaces between characters. This method achieved much more beautiful typesetting and much more accurate printing. The traditional way of type casting fell into a slump in the early 20th century. However, growing interest in and study of old movable metal type has gradually restored both techniques. Today, of course, there is more advanced into four steps : character carving (or syllable carving, in the case of writing in the Korean alphabet, Hangeul), mold making, casting, and printing. Type was cast in two different ways. One was wax-casting. Each character was carved in wax and the type cast from this mold. This method gave a lot of trouble because any repeated character was carved over again, with resulting variation from occurrence to occurrence. The other way, sand-casting, was used from the time of the creation of the Chojogabinja type of the early Joseon Dynasty. Characters were carved in mirror image relief on boxwood first, then pressed into the sand box, where the type was molded. The metal type was then arranged on a matrix plate. Ink was covered evenly over the type and rice paper placed on the type and rubbed. This method gave a regular size of characters and regular spaces between characters. This method achieved much more beautiful typesetting and much more accurate printing. The traditional way of type casting fell into a slump in the early 20th century. However, growing interest in and study of old movable metal type has gradually restored both techniques. Today, of course, there is more advanced equipment for casting. Now, in the PC era, almost everyone can print with a printer. Printing a book is not a great achievement today. But the hand-made traditional-style type produces somewhat warmer and more accurate letters. The ink lines pressed in irregular tone on rice paper give a pleasant feeling.

(출처 : 문화재청 홈페이지)