Addresses in South Korea
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2009) |
Addresses in South Korea are used to identify specific locations within the country. The Republic of Korea currently uses two addressing systems. The first and most common system is the Japanese addressing system, which is also used in Japan and North Korea (but not within the Chinese-speaking world), but this system will no longer be officially recognized from December 31, 2013 onwards.[1] The second system, rolled out on July 29, 2011[1], uses street names and house numbers, and is similar to the systems used by the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Since many Korean streets are small and nameless, however, and since the street name-house number system is still relatively new, the most common addressing system in use in South Korea is the East Asian system. Due to the confusion that Korean addresses may present to foreigners, therefore, the postal code (nnn-nnn), if available, should always be included for clarity.
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East Asian system[edit]
A typical building in South Korea is described by the administrative divisions in which it lies. If the address is written in Korean, the largest division will be written first, followed by the smaller divisions, and finally the building and the recipient. If the recipient is in a multi-unit building, the floor and apartment or suite number may follow.
A typical building in Seoul, for example, belongs to Seoul Special City, a particular ward (gu, 구, 區), and a neighborhood (dong, 동, 洞) within that ward. (Neighborhood names that include numbers, such as Seocho 2-dong (서초2동) in the example below, indicate that the neighborhood was once part of a larger neighborhood that was divided for administrative purposes, possibly because the original neighborhood's population grew too large for a single neighborhood.) Each neighborhood is divided into city blocks (beonji, 번지, 番地), which can range from several dozen to several thousand per neighborhood. The building itself is given a house number (ho, 호, 戶) within the city block. (Usually, the words "번지" and "호" are not included in the written address; instead, only their numbers, separated by a hyphen, are written.) If the building has a name, then the city block and house numbers may in some cases be omitted, or the name may follow these numbers. After the building name or number, the floor (cheung, 층, 層) may be written, followed by the apartment or suite number (ho, 호, 號) and, finally, the recipient.
Below is a fictitious example of an address in Seoul. Note that the neighborhood, Seocho 2-dong, includes a number and was probably split from Seocho-dong. Also, the words "번지" and "호" are omitted, and only their numbers are written, separated by a hyphen. There is no line convention for addresses written in Korean, and the entire address may be written in one line on the envelope.
| Korean example | Format | Revised Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 135-283 서울특별시 용산구 서초2동 1308-25 하나 아파트 9층 912호 박민호 선생님 |
Postal code, (special) city Ward, neighborhood, beonji-ho Building name, floor, room number Name of recipient |
135-283 Seoul Teukbyeolsi Yongsan-gu Seocho 2-dong 1308-25 Hana APT 9-cheung 912-ho Bak Minho Seonsaeng-nim |
135-283 Seoul Special City Yongsan Ward, Seocho Neighborhood #2, 1308-25 Hana Apartments, 9th floor, Apt. 912 Mr. Minho Park |
Other administrative divisions found in South Korean addresses are provinces, metropolitan cities, cities, counties, towns, townships, and villages. A Korean address written using the East Asian system uses between two and four of the aforementioned administrative divisions, in addition to the city block and house numbers, to describe the building's location (the example above uses three: special city, ward, and neighborhood).
When written in the Latin alphabet, the order is reversed so that the recipient is first and the city is last. Note that "gu" and "dong" are written in lower-case and connected with a hyphen, and that they are not translated into English. Also, SOUTH KOREA is added afterwards (always in English) for international mail. The recipient's family name may be capitalized to avoid ambiguity. It should also be noted that there is no official convention for South Korean addresses written in the Latin alphabet, and addresses are written in many ways. Mail carriers, however, are trained to interpret various formats, and should have little trouble delivering mail, especially if the postal code is included. The following is a simple compromise of the various Westernization schemes.
| Latin alphabet example | Format |
|---|---|
| Mr. Minho PARK Hana Apartments, 9th floor, Apt. 912 1308-25 Seocho 2-dong, Yongsan-gu 135-283 Seoul SOUTH KOREA |
Name of recipient Building name, floor, room number Beonji-ho, neighborhood, ward Postal code, (special) city South Korea |
As in other countries using the East Asian system, finding a building with only the address can be very difficult, since building numbering is not linear. For this reason, area maps with important landmarks can be found at many public transit stops, and businesses frequently include area maps and directions from the local subway station or from large landmarks on their business cards or websites.
Street name-house number system[edit]
The second system used in South Korea is more similar to that used by most countries around the world.
Some Korean streets have names, typically ending in -gil (길) for smaller streets and -ro/-no/-lo (로, 路) for larger thoroughfares. (The pronunciation of "로" in Korean, and therefore its rendering in the Latin alphabet, depends on the sound preceding it, according to the transcription rules of Revised Romanization.) Streets may be named after a feature in the area (such as 청소년길 ("Adolescent Street") near a primary school), or after the neighborhood (dong) in which they lie. Street names may be unique, or, in a convention which may seem confusing to foreigners, the same name can be re-used for several streets in the same area, with each street having a unique number. The streets need not run parallel to each other or be numbered in order; one street may be a continuation of another, and two such streets may intersect. For example, in the Jangwi 3 neighborhood of Seoul's Seongbuk-gu, the following streets exist: Chambit-gil, Chambit 1-gil, Chambit 3-gil, and Chambit 4-gil (참빛길, 참빛1길, 참빛3길, 참빛4길). These streets do not all run in the same direction; one street intersects another while a third street is a continuation of yet another. These four streets have the same name due only to their location in the same area.
Long streets, typically the larger ro (로), may be divided into sections (ga, 가, 街) along their length. The longer the street is, the more sections it generally has. For example, Namdaemun-no (남대문로) in central Seoul has 5 sections, Namdaemun-no 1-ga (남대문로1가) through Namdaemun-no 5-ga (남대문로5가).
Houses are numbered along a street with even numbers on one side and odd numbers on the other, as in most European countries. Hyphenated house numbers indicate that the house or building is on a street or alley that is too small or too short to receive a name of its own. Instead, all houses on this street or alley (or network of small alleys) share the same house number, followed by a hyphen, followed by a unique number afterwards. For example, if a network of small alleys branched off from Gongwon-gil between 21 Gongwon-gil and 25 Gongwon-gil, then the houses in that network of alleys would have addresses such as 23-1 Gongwon-gil, 23-2 Gongwon-gil, etc. Note that although many houses do have house numbers along a named street, the most popular convention today is the East Asian system, due to its long-standing history within Korea.
An address written using this street name-house number system is similar to the previous system when written in Korean in that the largest entity is written first, while the recipient is written last. The ward (gu) is generally included before the street name, while the neighborhood, city block, and house number (within the city block) are not included.
| Korean example | Format | Revised Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100-813 서울특별시 중구 태평로 1가 24-2번지 하나 아파트 9층 912호 박민호 선생님 |
Postal code, (special) city Ward, street name, house number (beonji) Building name, floor, room number Name of recipient |
100-813 Seoul Teukbyeolsi Jung-gu Taepyeong-no Il-ga 24-2 beonji Hana Apateu gu-cheung gubaeksibi-ho Bak Minho Seonsaeng-nim |
100-813 Seoul Special City Jung Ward, Taepyeong Street Section 1, Building 24-2 Hana Apartments, 9th floor, Apt. 912 Mr. Minho Park |
Note that the word "번지" (beonji, 番地) does not refer to a city block here, as it does in the East Asian system. Instead, it refers to the house number. This word can be omitted altogether, as in the previous system. Also, when written in Korean, the space between "Taepyeong-no" and "1-ga" is optional (i.e. 태평로 1가 or 태평로1가).
| Latin alphabet example | Format |
|---|---|
| Mr. Minho PARK Hana Apartments, 9th floor, Apt. 912 24-2 Taepyeong-no 1-ga, Jung-gu 100-813 Seoul SOUTH KOREA |
Name of recipient Building name, floor, room number House number, street name and section number, ward Postal code, (special) city South Korea |
Just as in the East Asian system, different administrative divisions may be listed before the street name to make the location clear (for example, the province and city). If problems may arise with the street name-house number system due to its relative newness, the traditional address may be included in parentheses afterwards. For example, Korea Post gives its address as 서울특별시 종로구 종로 6 (서린동 154-1) (Seoul Special City, Jongno-gu, Jong-no 6 (Seorin-dong 154-1)).
