North–South differences in the Korean language
The Korean language has changed between North and South Korea due to the length of time that the two states have been separated. Underlying dialect differences have been extended, in part by government policies and in part by the isolation of North Korea from the outside world.
Korean orthography, as defined by the Korean Language Society in 1933 in the "Proposal for Unified Korean Orthography", continued to be used by the North and the South after liberation of Korea from Japan in 1945, but with the establishments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, the two states have taken on differing policies regarding the language.
Development
In 1954, North Korea set out the rules for Korean orthography. Although this was only a minor revision in orthography that created little difference from that used in the South, from then on, the standard languages in the North and the South gradually differed more and more from each other.In the 1960s, under the influence of the Juche ideology, came a big change in linguistic policies in North Korea. On 3 January 1964, Kim Il-sung issued his teachings on "A Number of Issues on the Development of the Korean language", and on 14 May 1966 on the topic "In Rightly Advancing the National Characteristics of the Korean language", from which the "Standard Korean Language" rules followed in the same year, issued by the National Language Revision Committee that was directly under the control of the cabinet.
From then on, more important differences came about between the standard language in the North and the South. In 1987, North Korea revised the aforementioned rules further, and these have remained in use until today. In addition, the rules for spacing were separately laid out in the "Standard Spacing Rules in Writing Korean" in 2000 but have since been superseded by "Rules for Spacing in Writing Korean", issued in 2003.
South Korea continued to use the Hangeul Matchumbeop Tong-iran as defined in 1933, until its amendment "Korean Orthography", together with "Standard Language Regulations", were issued in 1988, which remain in use today.
As with the Korean phonology article, this article uses IPA symbols in pipes for morphophonemics, slashes for phonemes, and brackets for allophones. Pan-Korean romanized words are largely in Revised Romanization, and North Korean-specific romanized words are largely in McCune-Reischauer. Also, for the sake of consistency, this article also phonetically transcribes ㅓ as for pan-Korean and South-specific phonology, and as for North-specific phonology.
Hangul (''Chosŏn'gŭl'')
The same hangul letters are used to write the language in the North and the South. However, in the North, the stroke that distinguishes ㅌ from ㄷ is written above rather than inside the letter as in the South.In the South, the vowel digraphs and trigraphs ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ, ㅢ and the consonant digraphs ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ are not treated as separate letters, whereas in the North they are. Some letters and digraphs have different names in the North and in the South.
| Letter | North Korean name | South Korean name |
| ㄱ | 기윽 | 기역 |
| ㄷ | 디읃 | 디귿 |
| ㅅ | 시읏 | 시옷 |
| ㄲ | 된기윽 | 쌍기역 |
| ㄸ | 된디읃 | 쌍디귿 |
| ㅃ | 된비읍 | 쌍비읍 |
| ㅆ | 된시읏 | 쌍시옷 |
| ㅉ | 된지읒 | 쌍지읒 |
The names used in the South are the ones found in the Hunmongjahoe. The names used in the North are formed mechanically with the pattern "letter + 이 + 으 + letter". Also for the tensed consonants, in the South, they are called "double" consonants, while in the North, they are called "strong" consonants.
Sorting order
- Vowels
- Consonants
Pronunciation
The standard languages in the North and the South share the same types and the same number of phonemes, but there are some differences in the actual pronunciations. The South Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect as spoken in Seoul, and the North Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect as spoken in Pyongyang.Consonants
The following differences are recognised in the consonants. In the Seoul dialect, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅉ are typically pronounced with alveolo-palatal affricates,,. In the Pyongyang dialect, they are typically pronounced with alveolar affricates,,. Also, 지 and 시 can be pronounced without palatalisation as and in the Pyongyang dialect.In Sino-Korean words, some of ㄴ and all of ㄹ that come in the beginning of a word are dropped in pronunciation and not written out in the South, but all initial ㄴ and ㄹ are written out in the North. For instance, the common last name 이 , is written and pronounced as 리 in North Korean. Furthermore, the South Korean word 여자, meaning woman, is similarly written as 녀자 in North Korea. But this latter pronunciation was artificially crafted in the 1960s, so it is common for older speakers to be unable to pronounce initial ㄴ and ㄹ properly, thus pronouncing such words in the same way as they are pronounced in the South.
The liquid consonant does not come after the nasal consonants and. In this position, ㄹ is pronounced as rather than. But in North Korea, ㄹ before vowels ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, and ㅠ can remain in this context.
| North | South | Hanja |
| 침략 ch'imnyak or ch'imryak | chimnyak | 侵略 |
| 협력 hyŏmnyŏk or hyŏmryŏk | hyeomnyeok | 協力 |
| 식료 singnyo or singryo | singnyo | 食料 |
| 청류벽 ch'ŏngnyubyŏk or ch'ŏngryubyŏk | cheongnyubyeok | 淸流壁 |
Vowels
The following differences are recognised in the vowels. The vowel ㅓ is not as rounded in the Seoul dialect as it is in the Pyongyang dialect. If expressed in IPA, it would be or for the one in Seoul dialect and for the one in Pyongyang dialect. Due to this roundedness, speakers of the Seoul dialect would find that ㅓ as pronounced by speakers of the Pyongyang dialect sounds close to the vowel ㅗ. Additionally, the difference between the vowels ㅐ and ㅔ is slowly diminishing amongst the younger speakers of the Seoul dialect. It is not well known if this is also happening with the Pyongyang dialect.Pitch
The pitch patterns in the Pyongyang and Seoul dialects differ, but there has been little research in detail. On the other hand, in the Chosŏnmal Taesajŏn, published in 1992, where the pitches for certain words are shown in a three-pitch system, a word such as 꾀꼬리 is marked as having pitch "232", from which one can see some difference in pitch patterns from the Seoul dialect.Orthography
Inflected words
어 / 여
In words in which the word stem ends in ㅣ, ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅚ, ㅟ, ㅢ, in forms where -어 is appended to these endings in the South, but -여 is instead appended in the North. In actual pronunciation, however, the sound often accompanies the pronunciation of such words, even in the South.| Inflected word | North inflection | South inflection | Meaning |
| 피다 | 피여 p'iyŏ | 피어 pieo | bloom |
| 내다 | 내여 naeyŏ | 내어 naeeo | take out |
| 세다 | 세여 seyŏ | 세어 seeo | count |
| 되다 | 되여 toeyŏ | 되어 doeeo | become |
| 뛰다 | 뛰여 ttwiyŏ | 뛰어 ttwieo | jump |
| 희다 | 희여 hiyŏ | 희어 hieo | white |
ㅂ-irregular inflections
In the South, when the word root of a ㅂ-irregular inflected word has two or more syllables, the ㅂ is dropped and replaced with 우 in the next syllable. When conjugated to the polite speech level, the ㅂ-irregular stem resyllabifies with the 어요 -eoyo conjugation to form 워요 -woyo, appearing to ignore vowel harmony. ㅂ is not replaced with 우 in the North. The vowel harmony is kept in both the South and the North if the word root has only one syllable.| Inflected word | North inflection | South inflection | Meaning |
| 고맙다 | 고마와 komawa | 고마워 gomawo | thankful |
| 가깝다 | 가까와 kakkawa | 가까워 gakkawo | near |
Indication of tensed consonants after word endings that end with ㄹ
In word endings where the final consonant is ㄹ, where the South spells -ㄹ까 and -ㄹ쏘냐 to indicate the tensed consonants, in the North these are spelled -ㄹ가 ，-ㄹ소냐 instead. These etymologically are formed by attaching to the adnominal form that ends in ㄹ, and in the North, the tensed consonants are denoted with normal consonants. Also, the word ending -ㄹ게 used to be spelt -ㄹ께 in the South, but has since been changed in the Hangeul Matchumbeop of 1988, and is now spelt -ㄹ게 just like in the North.Sino-Korean words
Initial ㄴ / ㄹ (두음법칙, ''dueum beopchik'', "initial sound rule")
Initial ㄴ / ㄹ appearing in Sino-Korean words are kept in the North. In the South, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄹ which is followed by the vowel sound or the semivowel sound , ㄹ is replaced by ㅇ ; when this ㄹ is followed by other vowels it is replaced by ㄴ. In the North, the initial ㄹ is kept.| North | South | Hanja | Meaning |
| 리성계 Ri Sŏnggye | 이성계 I Seonggye | 李成桂 | Yi Seong-gye |
| 련습 ryŏnsŭp | 연습 yeonseup | 練習 | practice |
| 락하 rak'a | 낙하 naka | 落下 | fall |
| 랭수 raengsu | 냉수 naengsu | 冷水 | cold water |
Similarly, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄴ and is followed by the vowel sound or the semi-vowel sound , in the South, this ㄴ is replaced by ㅇ, but this remains unchanged in the North.
| North | South | Hanja | Meaning |
| 니승 nisŭng | 이승 iseung | 尼僧 | priestess |
| 녀자 nyŏja | 여자 yeoja | 女子 | woman |
These are thus pronounced as written in the North as ㄴ and ㄹ. However, even in the South, sometimes in order to disambiguate the surnames 유 and 임 from 유 and 임, the former may be written or pronounced as 류 Ryu and 림 Rim 林.
Hanja pronunciation
Where a Hanja is written 몌 or 폐 in the South, this is written 메, 페 in the North.| North | South | Hanja | Meaning |
| 메별 mebyŏl | 몌별 myebyeol | 袂別 | sad separation |
| 페쇄 p'eswae | 폐쇄 pyeswae | 閉鎖 | closure |
Some hanja characters are pronounced differently.
| North | South | Hanja |
| 거 kŏ | 갹 gyak | 醵 |
| 외 oe | 왜 wae | 歪 |
Also in the North, the hanja 讐 is usually pronounced as 수 su, except in the word 怨讐/원쑤 wŏnssu, where it is pronounced as 쑤 ssu. It is thought that this is to avoid the word becoming a homonym with 元帥, written as 원수 wŏnsu.
Compound words
Sai siot (사이 시옷, "middle ㅅ")
When forming compound words from uninflected words, where the so-called "sai siot" is inserted in the South. This is left out in the North.| North | South | Pronunciation | Meaning |
| 저가락 | 젓가락 | 젇까락 chŏtkkarak/jeotkkarak or 저까락 chŏkkarak/jeokkarak | chopsticks |
| 나무잎 | 나뭇잎 | 나문닙 namunnip | leaf |
Word stems in compound words
While the general rule is to write out the word stem from which the compound word is formed in its original form, but in cases where the etymological origin is no longer remembered, this is no longer written in original form. This happens both in the North and in the South. However, whether a compound word is seen to have its etymological origin forgotten or not is seen differently by different people:| North | South | Meaning |
| 옳바르다 | 올바르다 | upright |
| 벗꽃 | 벚꽃 | cherry blossom |
In the first example, in the South, the 올 part shows that the etymological origin is forgotten, and the word is written as pronounced as 올바르다 olbareuda, but in the North, the first part is seen to come from 옳다 olt'a and thus the whole word is written 옳바르다 olbarŭda. Conversely, in the second example, the South spelling catches the word as the combination of 벚 beot and 꽃 kkot, but in the North, this is no longer recognised and thus the word is written as pronounced as 벗꽃 pŏtkkot.
Spacing
In the South, the rules of spacing are not very clearcut, but in the North, these are very precise. In general, compared to the North, the writing in the South tends to include more spacing. One likely explanation is that the North remains closer to the Sinitic orthographical heritage, where spacing is less of an issue than with a syllabary or alphabet such as Hangul. The main differences are indicated below.Bound nouns
Before bound nouns, a space is added in the South but not in the North. This applies to counter words also, but the space is sometimes allowed to be omitted in the South.| North | South | Meaning |
| 내것 naegŏt | 내 것 nae geot | my thing |
| 할수 있다 halsu itta | 할 수 있다 hal su ittda | to be able to do |
| 한개 hangae | 한 개 han gae | one thing |
Auxiliaries
Before auxiliaries, a space is inserted in the South but not in the North. Depending on the situation, however, the space may be omitted in the South.| North | South | Meaning |
| 먹어보다 mŏgŏboda | 먹어 보다/먹어보다 meogeo boda/meogeoboda | to try to eat |
| 올듯하다 oldŭt'ada | 올 듯하다/올듯하다 ol deutada/oldeutada | to seem to come |
| 읽고있다 ilkkoitta | 읽고 있다 ilkko ittda | to be reading |
| 자고싶다 chagosip'ta | 자고 싶다 jago sipda | to want to sleep |
In the above, in the rules of the South, auxiliaries coming after -아/-어 or an adnominal form allow the space before them to be omitted, but the space after -고 cannot be omitted.
Words indicating a single concept
Words formed from two or more words that indicate a single concept in principle are written with spaces in the South and without spaces in the North, as in Chinese and Japanese.| North | South | Meaning |
| 국어사전 kugŏsajŏn | 국어 사전 gugeo sajeon | Korean dictionary |
| 경제부흥상황 kyŏngjepuhŭngsanghwang | 경제 부흥 상황 gyeongje buheung sanghwang | state of economic recovery |
| 서울대학교 인문대학 Sŏultaehakkyo Inmuntaehak | 서울 대학교 인문 대학／서울대학교 인문대학 Seoul Daehakgyo Inmun Daehak/Seouldaehakgyo Inmundaehak | Faculty of Humanities of Seoul National University |
Note that since the spacing rules in the South are often unknown, not followed, or optional, spellings vary from place to place. For example, taking the word 국어 사전 gugeo sajeon, people who see this as two words will add a space, and people who see this as one word will write it without a space. Thus, the spacing depends on how one views what "one word" consists of, and so, while spacing is standardised in the South, in reality the standard does not matter much.
Emphasis
In the North, names of leaders 김일성, 김정일 and 김정은 are always set off from surrounding text, typically by bolding the characters, increasing the font size, or both.Vocabulary
The standard language in the South is largely based on the Seoul dialect, and the standard language in the North is largely based on the Pyongyang dialect. However, both in the North and in the South, the vocabulary and forms of the standard language come from Sajeonghan Joseoneo Pyojunmal Mo-eum 사정한 조선어 표준말 모음 published by the Korean Language Society in 1936, and so there is very little difference in the basic vocabulary between the standard languages used in the North and the South. Nevertheless, due to the difference in political systems and social structure, each country is constantly adding different words to its vocabulary.Differences due to the difference in political system or social structure
The word 동무 tongmu/dongmu that is used to mean "friend" in the North was originally used across the whole of Korea, but after the division of Korea, North Korea began to use it as a translation of the Russian term товарищ, and since then, the word has come to mean "comrade" in the South as well and has fallen out of use there.Differences in words of foreign origin
South Korea has borrowed a lot of English words, but North Korea has borrowed a number of Russian words, and there are numerous differences in words used between the two coming from these different borrowings. Even when the same English word is borrowed, how this word is transliterated into Korean may differ between the North and the South, resulting in different words being adapted into the corresponding standard languages. For names of other nations and their places, the principle is to base the transliteration on the English word in the South and to base the transliteration on the word in the original language in the North.Other differences in vocabulary
The other differences between the standard languages in the North and in the South are thought to be caused by the differences between the Seoul and Pyongyang dialects.Words like 강냉이 kangnaeng-i and 우 u are also sometimes heard in various dialects in South Korea.
There are also some words that exist only in the North. The verb 마스다 masŭda and its passive form 마사지다 masajida have no exactly corresponding words in the South.
Problems
During the 2018 Winter Olympics, the two Korean countries decided to play jointly for the Korea women's national ice hockey team. This led to issues with the South Korean athletes communicating with the North Korean athletes since the former uses English-influenced words in their postwar vocabulary, especially for hockey, while the latter uses only Korean-inspired words for their postwar vocabulary.The language differences also pose challenges for researchers and for the tens of thousands of people who have defected from the North to the South since the Korean War. The defectors face difficulty because they lack vocabulary, use differing accents, or have not culturally assimilated yet so may not understand jokes or references to pop culture and K-pop.