Romanization of Korean (North)

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]

Korean writing systems
Hangul
Chosŏn'gŭl (in North Korea)
Hanja
Mixed script
Braille
Transcription
Transliteration

Transcription rules

Vowels
Josŏn-gŭl ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ
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
Josŏn-gŭl ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ
RomanizationInitial kntrmpsjchkhthphh kk tt pp ss jj -
Final ltttkt ptk - - 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

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

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

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. "Working Paper No. 46" (PDF). UNGEGN. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  2. "Updates to the report on the current status of United Nations romanization systems for geographical names" (PDF). UNGEGN. Retrieved 2018-03-17. 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" (PDF). UNGEGN. 2002-08-26. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  4. "E/CONF.101/CRP15 - The Rules of Latin Alphabetic Transcription of Korean Language" (PDF). UNGEGN. 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  5. "Choe Ryong Hae Inspects Different Units of South Phyongan Province". Rodong Sinmun. 2022-07-04. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
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