Romanization of Korean (North)

Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in North Korea proclaimed by the Sahoe Kwahagwŏn to replace the older McCune–Reischauer system since 1992, last updated in 2002.

Transcription rules

Vowels

Chosŏn'gŭl	ㅏ	ㅐ	ㅑ	ㅒ	ㅓ	ㅔ	ㅕ	ㅖ	ㅗ	ㅘ	ㅙ	ㅚ	ㅛ	ㅜ	ㅝ	ㅞ	ㅟ	ㅠ	ㅡ	ㅢ	ㅣ
Romanization	a	ae	ya	yae	ŏ	e*	yŏ	ye	o	wa	wae	oe	yo	u	wŏ	we	wi	yu	ŭ	ŭi	i

Consonants

Chosŏn'gŭl		ㄱ	ㄲ	ㄴ	ㄷ	ㄸ	ㄹ	ㅁ	ㅂ	ㅃ	ㅅ	ㅆ	ㅇ	ㅈ	ㅉ	ㅊ	ㅋ	ㅌ	ㅍ	ㅎ
Romanization	Initial	k	kk	n	t	tt	r	m	p	pp	s	ss	-	j	jj	ch	kh	th	ph	h
	Final	k		n	t	-	l	m	p	-	t		ng	t	-	t	k	t	p

• Double consonants in the end of a word or in front of 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, ㅂ and those between resonant sounds and vowels are transcribed as g, d, and b.

Examples

• 천리마 → Chŏllima
• 한라산 → Hallasan
• 압록강 → Amrokgang
• 은률 → Ŭnryul
• 뒤문 → Twinmun

Guide

A personal name is written by family name first, followed by a space and then the given name with the first letter capitalized. And each letter of the name of Chinese character origin is written separately.

• 김꽃분이 → Kim Kkotpuni
• 박동구 → Pak Tong Gu
• 안복철 → An Pok Chŏl

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

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

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

However, a name for geographic features and artificial structures are 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