A Company Says "It's Even Better" After a 100,000-Won Program Becomes Free in Just Three Weeks

A program that allows users to read and edit Hangul Word Processor (HWP, HWPX) files from Hancom for free has been introduced, attracting attention from users. Since the program has been released as open-source software, anyone can use it for free, providing individual users with more options. Hancom also stated that, since the specifications for Hangul documents have already been made public, this development is positive in terms of expanding the ecosystem.

According to the IT industry on April 23, an open-source software (SW) project named “rhwp” was released on the open-source platform GitHub earlier this month. An independent developer created this program to allow users to read and edit documents in HWP and HWPX formats—the specifications used by Hancom Hangul—within Google’s Chrome web browser. Anyone using Chrome can download and use rhwp, open or create new Hangul files, and save their edited content. However, as the program is currently in beta, it does not yet support saving files in the HWPX format.

A screen capture of the rhwp Hangul editing program running on the Chrome web browser.

This independent developer reportedly analyzed the Hangul document format using artificial intelligence (AI) and developed rhwp in about three weeks. Hancom had previously disclosed the structure and specifications of Hangul documents, including HWP and HWPX, in 2010.

Because the program is open-source, other programs based on rhwp have also emerged. Another developer has released “HOP,” a Hangul document editing program built on rhwp. Unlike rhwp, which is a Chrome extension, this program is installed and used on the user’s PC. It supports a wide range of operating systems (OS), including Windows, macOS, and even Linux.

With the introduction of these free open-source programs that support Hangul document editing, individual users now have even more choices. Currently, individuals who wish to use Hangul must pay a fee. Hancom sells Hancom Office, which includes Hangul, to personal customers for 99,000 won. While the Hancom Office Viewer, which allows users to view Hangul documents, can be installed for free, document editing is not supported.

Hancom has stated that it does not intend to take legal action against these free programs. This is because the specifications for HWP and HWPX documents have already been made public, and rhwp is a program developed using those specifications. Instead, the company views such open-source programs as positive, as they can help broaden the Hangul document ecosystem.

View of Hancom headquarters.

A Hancom representative stated, “It is a natural flow in the open technology ecosystem for various developers and communities to use document formats to create new user environments and tools,” adding, “In particular, efforts to improve document accessibility and user convenience are meaningful in terms of ecosystem expansion.”

However, even with the release of these free programs, their impact on Hancom’s performance is expected to be limited. This is because rhwp was released only recently and the influence of corporate (B2B) and government (B2G) clients is significant in Hancom Office’s sales. Due to security and authentication requirements, companies and public institutions must use officially licensed Hancom Office Hangul. A Hancom representative explained, “A substantial portion of Hancom Office sales comes from educational and public institutions.”

Meanwhile, foreign AI services such as ChatGPT and Gemini, which previously did not support Hangul documents, have recently begun supporting HWP and HWPX files. As a result, users can now upload Hangul documents to these services and request content analysis, summarization, translation, and more. Google’s Gemini began supporting Hangul documents in December last year, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been able to read Hangul document files since April 17.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.