The icon image of a hwp format file / Courtesy of Hancom
Korea is moving to phase out Hangul Word Processor (HWP) file formats across key government document systems, as public institutions seek to modernize workflows and improve compatibility with artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
The Presidential Council on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS), together with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, plans to begin restricting attaching HWP files across key public communication channels starting May. These include the government’s internal document platform, as well as official email services.
Beginning May 18, the government will expand adoption of HWPX — an open-format version of HWP designed for greater interoperability — across the On-Nara System, the document drafting and distribution platform used by public officials, extending its application to local governments. On-Mail, an internal communication tool for civil servants, will follow suit by October. Both systems are overseen by the interior ministry.
The Integrated Government Mail service, operating under the korea.kr domain and managed by the culture ministry, will implement a full restriction on HWP attachments in October following a grace period beginning in early May. The service functions as an official external email channel for civil servants communicating with the public.
The primary driver behind this policy shift is the structural limitation of HWP files. Developed in the late 1980s by Hancom, Hangul became the dominant word processor in Korea, particularly in government institutions, due to its strong Korean-language support and localization advantages at a time when global alternatives like Microsoft Word were less accessible. Over time, however, the format has remained largely proprietary and closed, limiting interoperability and complicating integration with newer technologies.
As a closed-format system, HWP makes it difficult for AI technologies to access, analyze and learn from embedded data. While recent advancements, such as support for reading HWP files in tools like ChatGPT, have improved usability to some extent, fundamental constraints persist due to its closed architecture.
The open-format alternative HWPX, by contrast, offers a transparent structure far more compatible with AI-based data processing. The interior ministry is also working with Hancom to enable automatic conversion of existing HWP documents into HWPX during editing or saving, a step intended to make the transition largely seamless for most users.
The policy shift does not spell the end of the Hangul word processor itself, which remains widely used in Korea. Recent versions of the software already support HWPX, meaning users can continue working in Hangul as before. The change targets the underlying file format, not the application.
NAIS Vice Chairman Im Moon-young emphasized that the initiative marks the beginning of broader data innovation in the public sector.
Source: Korea Times News
