Romanization of Korean (North)

Short description: Official Korean language romanization system in North Korea

Romanization of Korean is the official Korean-language romanization system in North Korea. Announced by the Sahoe Kwahagwŏn, it is an adaptation of the older McCune–Reischauer system, which it replaced in 1992,[1][2] and it was updated in 2002[2][3] and 2012.[4]

## Contents

* 1 Transcription rules
* 1.1 Vowels
* 1.2 Consonants
* 2 Guide
* 3 Notes
* 4 References

## Transcription rules

### Vowels

Hangul  | ㅏ | ㅑ | ㅓ | ㅕ | ㅗ | ㅛ | ㅜ | ㅠ | ㅡ | ㅣ | ㅐ | ㅒ | ㅔ | ㅖ | ㅚ | ㅟ | ㅢ | ㅘ | ㅝ | ㅙ | ㅞ

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Romanization  | a | ya | ŏ | yŏ | o | yo | u | yu | ŭ | i | ae | yae | e | ye | oi[lower-alpha 1] | wi | ŭi | wa | wŏ | wae | we

### Consonants

Hangul  | ㄱ | ㄴ | ㄷ | ㄹ | ㅁ | ㅂ | ㅅ | ㅈ | ㅊ | ㅋ | ㅌ | ㅍ | ㅎ | ㄲ | ㄸ | ㅃ | ㅆ | ㅉ | ㅇ

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Romanization | Initial  | k | n | t | r | m | p | s | j | ch | kh | th | ph | h | kk | tt | pp | ss | jj | –
Final  | l | t | t | t | k | t | p | t | k | – | – | t | – | ng

* In double consonants in the end of a word or before a consonant, only one of them is written:

* 닭섬 → Taksŏm
* 물곬 → Mulkol

* However, in the case before a vowel, both consonants are written:

* 붉은바위 → Pulgŭnbawi
* 앉은바위 → Anjŭnbawi

* The soft voiceless consonants between vowels ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ and those between resonant sounds and vowels are transcribed as g, d, and b.

* Final consonants may undergo assimilation before resonants.

* 백마산 → Paengmasan
* 꽃마을 → KKonmaŭl
* 압록강 → Amrokgang

* When lax consonants become tense in compound words, they are transcribed as tense consonants if they are preceded by a vowel. Also, if the next element begins with a resonant, then n is added before it.

* 기대산 → Kittaesan
* 새별읍 → Saeppyŏl-ŭp
* 뒤문 → Twinmun

* The consonant clusters ㄴㄹ and ㄴㄴ are only transcribed as ll if they correspond with longstanding usage; ㄹㄹ does not have a special transcription.

* 천리마 → Chŏllima
* 한나산 → Hallasan
* 찔레골 → JJilregol

* Double consonants may be capitalized as a single unit: kk → KK.

## Guide

A personal name is written by family name first, followed by a space and the given name with the first letter capitalized. Also, each letter of a name of Chinese character origin is written separately. The given name's first initial is transcribed in a voiceless letter, even when it becomes resonant in pronunciation.

* 김꽃분이 → Kim KKotpuni
* 박동구 → Pak Tong Gu
* 안복철 → An Pok Chŏl

However, it is not really possible to follow this rule because a certain name written in hangul can be a native Korean name, or a Sino-Korean name, or even both. For example, 보람 can not only be a native Korean name,[6] but can also be a Sino-Korean name (e.g. 寶濫).[7] In some cases, parents intend a dual meaning: both the meaning from a native Korean word and the meaning from hanja.

A name for administrative units is hyphenated from the placename proper:

* 도 → -do
* 시 → -si
* 군 → -gun
* 면 → -myŏn

* 리 → -ri
* 동 → -dong
* 구 → -gu
* 구역 → -guyŏk

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However, a name for geographic features and artificial structures is not hyphenated:

* 산 → san
* 거리 → gŏri
* 고개 → gogae
* 대 → dae

* 봉 → bong
* 교 → gyo
* 골 → gol
* 각 → gak

* 벌 → bŏl
* 관 → gwan
* 곶 → got
* 강 → gang

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Sound changes are not transcribed in the suffixes above:

* 삿갓봉 → Satkatbong
* 압록강 → Amrokgang

Transcription of geographical names may be simplified by removing breves and by reducing initial double consonants to single consonants:

* 서포 → Sŏpho → Sopho
* 찔레골 → JJilregol → Jilregol

## Notes

1. ↑ The 1992 version used oe instead;[1] Rodong Sinmun still uses oe as of 2022.[5]

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Working Paper No. 46". https://unstats.un.org/Unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/6th-uncsgn-docs/WP/6th_uncsgn_WP46.pdf.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Updates to the report on the current status of United Nations romanization systems for geographical names". https://unstats.un.org/Unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/22-GEGN-Docs/wp/gegn22wp48.pdf. "In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea there is a national system adopted in 1992 and presented to the 17th session of UNGEGN in 1994, updated version was published in 200220."
3. ↑ "E/CONF.94/INF.72 - Guideline for the Romanization of Korean". 2002-08-26. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.72.pdf.
4. ↑ "E/CONF.101/CRP15 - The Rules of Latin Alphabetic Transcription of Korean Language". 2012-07-19. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn/docs/10th-uncsgn-docs/crp/E_Conf.101_CRP15_Rules of Latin Alphabetic Transcription of Korean.pdf.
5. ↑ "Choe Ryong Hae Inspects Different Units of South Phyongan Province". Rodong Sinmun. 2022-07-04. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
6. ↑ "김보람(金보람)" (in ko). 한국법조인대관. 법률신문 (The Law Times). https://lawpeople.lawtimes.co.kr/lawman/10502/preview.
7. ↑ "강보람(姜寶濫)" (in ko). 한국법조인대관. 법률신문 (The Law Times). https://lawpeople.lawtimes.co.kr/lawman/21732/preview.

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