Background: Recent research suggests that diverse types of copying, including pure copying, copying fluency and delayed copying, contributed to children's spelling of Chinese characters and English words but not to word recognition. This study examined the relations of pure copying, copying fluency and delayed copying to beginning word reading and spelling in Korean Hangul. Methods: One hundred and five Korean kindergarten children aged 5 and 6 years were tested on pure copying of unfamiliar print of Vietnamese, copying fluency and delayed copying of Korean Gulja (written syllable) and cognitive skills including nonverbal reasoning, syllable and phoneme awareness and orthographic awareness. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that copying fluency and delayed copying of Korean Gulja uniquely explained Korean word reading and spelling after controlling for age, cognitive skills and Vietnamese copying. In addition, squared semi-partial correlations revealed that orthographic and phonological awareness significantly and uniquely contributed to Korean word reading and spelling. Conclusion: The findings highlight that copying fluency and delayed copying of Hangul Gulja are the most important factors in early Korean word recognition and spelling. Similar cognitive correlates such as syllable and orthographic awareness and orthographic working memory contributed to the initial reading and spelling of Korean words.