This editorial policy describes how every Korean lesson on Learn Korean Hangul is planned, drafted, checked, labelled and updated. A lesson passes five stages, from a written brief to a review of its Korean by Min-ji Park, a Korean language teacher, and no page is published until it has cleared all five.
Scope of This Editorial Policy
The policy covers every page that teaches or explains Korean: lessons, glossary entries, phrase pages, tool pages, flashcard decks and the pages in the About section. It states what happens before publication, what the review labels promise, how sources are chosen and when a page counts as updated.
It does not describe the internal planning files. Briefs, keyword maps and coverage tables are working notes, and they are never shown on public pages. What appears on a page is the lesson itself, its review label and its update date.
Next, the workflow shows how a single lesson is made.
How Is a Lesson Made, Step by Step?
A lesson is made in five stages, and it is published only after the last one. The stages run in this order.
- Plan the page. A written brief fixes the page's purpose, the reader's question, the Korean items to be taught, the pages it links to and the standard each Korean form must follow.
- Draft. An AI model writes the page from the brief, which comes from the site's curriculum plan: plain English, examples after every rule, Korean in Hangul with Revised Romanization as an aid, and a list of the clips that need audio.
- Run automated checks. Scripts confirm the page structure, metadata lengths, working internal links, structured data and the word-count target.
- Review with a second model. A model, normally one capability tier above the drafter, checks the Korean against the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) rules, looks for contradictions and unclear explanations, and confirms the page delivers what the brief promised.
- Human Korean review. Min-ji Park, the site's Korean reviewer, reviews the Korean in the lesson: natural phrasing, spelling, the right politeness level, pronunciation notes and examples. Nothing goes live until she signs it off and her corrections have been made. She reviewed and signed off every page on 15 October 2026.
After stage 5, the site build runs further checks, including accessibility tests and link checks in the rendered pages. Those checks test the page as a product and say nothing about the accuracy of the Korean.
Which Stage Can Change a Label?
Stages 1 to 3 give a page the generated label. Stage 4 allows model-reviewed. Only stage 5 allows human-reviewed, the status a page needs before it can be published. The authors and reviewers page explains who does each stage, and the AI drafting steps, including the tasks models never do, are listed separately.
Next, the label table says exactly what each label promises.
What Do the Review Labels Mean?
Each label guarantees a specific set of checks and no more. The table also states what each label does not guarantee.
| Label | What it guarantees | What it does not guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Generated | A model drafted the page and the automated checks passed | That anyone reviewed the Korean |
| Model-reviewed | A second model also checked it against the language standards and a checklist | That a native speaker read it; the model may repeat a common error |
| Human-reviewed | Min-ji Park reviewed the Korean, signed the page off and the date was recorded | That the page can never contain an error; corrections still apply |
A model-reviewed label is easy to misread as a native-speaker check. It is not one. A second model catches inconsistencies and rule errors, but it can share the blind spots of the first model, such as an example sentence that is grammatical yet unnatural. That is why a model-reviewed page stays a draft.
Audio carries its own label, described in the audio methodology. Next come the rules for sources.
Source Rules for Korean and for Claims
Korean rules are taken from the documents of the National Institute of Korean Language: the standard language regulations (표준어 규정), the Hangul orthography (한글 맞춤법) and the Standard Pronunciation rules (표준 발음법). Romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean. Every Korean form is checked against the language standards listed on their own page.
Four further rules apply to claims on a page:
- Statistics need a named source. A figure without a source is not published.
- Typical ranges are labelled typical. A study time of "about 30 minutes a day" is presented as a suggestion, not a measurement.
- No invented studies, quotes or reviews. The site has no testimonials and says so.
- Competitors are studied for structure only. Their prose, lesson order, recordings and images are not copied.
Next, the update rules explain when a page's date changes.
Rules for Updating a Published Page
A page's "Last updated" date changes only on a substantive edit: new or corrected content, examples, audio or links. A typo fix, a style tweak or a rebuild does not change it, and the date matches the sitemap's last-modified value so that the two never disagree.
Errors found after publication go through the corrections process. A confirmed fix adds a dated note to the page and an entry to the public corrections log, and the page is re-checked at the stage that would have caught the error. A changed Korean form goes back to Min-ji Park before the fixed page goes live. Lessons are also reviewed again before major updates, when learners keep asking about the same point, and when the TOPIK format changes.
What We Never Do
The site never does the following, whatever the pressure to publish faster:
- Publish a page before Min-ji Park has reviewed its Korean and signed it off.
- Label a page human-reviewed, or show a reviewer byline or review date, before Min-ji Park has signed it off.
- Show a reviewer, author or credential that does not exist.
- Put Korean text inside images, so that every Korean item stays real, searchable page text.
- Hide a correction by changing a page without a note.
These limits keep the labels truthful. For the wider picture, return to About Learn Korean Hangul.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is any lesson published before a human review? No. Drafts are written and checked by AI models, but a page stays unpublished until Min-ji Park, a Korean language teacher, has reviewed its Korean and signed it off. A model check catches rule errors and contradictions, yet it can miss a sentence that is grammatical but unnatural, so the human check must come first.
Can I see who reviewed a page? Yes. Each published page has an editorial block that shows who reviewed its Korean and on what date. A credential statement appears only when the reviewer has approved it and it has been verified. The authors and reviewers page describes each role, and nothing is shown on a reviewer's behalf without consent.
Do you accept guest lessons? No guest-lesson process exists yet. Offers can be sent through the contact page, but an accepted lesson would still pass the same five stages as any other page and carry the same label. A guest author would be named only with their consent, and would not receive a reviewer label by default.
Do you use ads or affiliate links? No ads or affiliate links are active. The current plans allow optional extras and clearly labelled partner links later, with core lessons and pronunciation help staying free. If any ad or affiliate link is added, it will be marked as such on the page and this policy will be updated first.