Prior to the 20th century, Korean literature was influenced by 

Classical Chinese literature. Chinese
calligraphy was also extensively used by Koreans for over one thousand years in Korean literature.
Modern literature is often linked with the development of Hangul (한글), which was created by the
fourth emperor of the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejong the Great (세종대왕), in
the Hunminjeongeum (훈민정음).The publication of the Korean alphabet in 1443 was a surprise to
many as there are no records of King Sejong working on it, concluding that the king was doing it in
secret.[6] This move was initially made to help spread literacy from the dominant scholarly-official
class, the Yangban (양반), to the common people— including women. Before the creation of Hangul,
the common text being read was Hanja, which are Chinese characters; only those from wealthy
families who could afford an education were able to learn it. Furthermore, like any other language,
Hanja was not able to capture the entire meaning of words that were spoken in Korean, so it was
hard to decipher what citizens were attempting to say. [7] Hangul, however, only reached a dominant
position in Korean literature in the second half of the 19th century, resulting in a major growth in
Korean literature. Sinsoseol, for instance, are novels written in hangul.
In modern poetry, there were attempts at introducing imagist and modern poetry methods
particularly in translations of early American moderns such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in the early
20th century. In the early Republic period, patriotic works were very successful.