fl. 1400s

Korean king who in 1403 ordered the creation of 100,000 pieces of cast bronze type for printing. Movable-type printing had been in use in China since its creation by alchemist Pi Sheng in about 1045. Pi Sheng, however, had used clay type, and the Korean implementation of bronze type—more than 40 years before Johannes Gutenberg used a metal movable-type press in Europe—constituted a major improvement.