Korean metal movable type produced

1234

Goryeo craftsmen cast movable metal type for printing Buddhist texts, predating Gutenberg by two centuries. The technique, developed on refugee Ganghwa Island during Mongol pressure, was used to print the Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun, now lost, and many later works. The technical achievement arose partly from desperation: the earlier wooden printing blocks of the Tripitaka had been destroyed in the first Mongol invasion.