Romanization of Korean (North Korean system)

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,^[1] which it replaced in 1992,^[2][3] and it was updated in 2002^[3][4] and 2012.^[5]

Transcription rules

Vowels^[5]: 3

Hangul	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[a]	wi	ŭi	wa	wŏ	wae	we

Consonants^[5]: 3–4

Hangul		ㄱ	ㄴ	ㄷ	ㄹ	ㅁ	ㅂ	ㅅ	ㅈ	ㅊ	ㅋ	ㅌ	ㅍ	ㅎ	ㄲ	ㄸ	ㅃ	ㅆ	ㅉ	ㅇ
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:^[5]: 5

• 닭섬 → Taksŏm
• 물곬 → Mulkol

• However, in the case before a vowel, both consonants are written:^[5]: 5

• 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.^[5]: 4
• Final consonants may undergo assimilation before resonants.^[5]: 5–6

• 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.^[5]: 6

• 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.^{[5]: 6, 8}

• 천리마 → Chŏllima
• 한나산 → Hallasan
• 찔레골 → JJilregol

• Double consonants may be capitalized as a single unit: kk → KK.^[5]: 5–6

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.^[5]: 7–8

• 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 (Po Ram / Poram) can not only be a native Korean name,^[7] but can also be a Sino-Korean name (e.g. 寶濫).^[8] In some cases, parents intend a dual meaning: both the meaning from a native Korean word and the meaning from hanja. ALA-LC, which has a similar rule about given names (see McCune–Reischauer § ALA-LC variant), admitted that it is not really possible to determine whether a certain given name is Sino-Korean or not.^[9]

A name for administrative units is hyphenated from the placename proper:^[5]: 7

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 is not hyphenated:^[5]: 7

산 → san 거리 → gŏri 고개 → gogae 대 → dae

봉 → bong 교 → gyo 골 → gol 각 → gak

벌 → bŏl 관 → gwan 곶 → got 강 → gang

Sound changes are not transcribed in the suffixes above:^[5]: 4–5

• 삿갓봉 → Satkatbong
• 압록강 → Amrokgang

Transcription of geographical names may be simplified by removing breves and by reducing initial double consonants to single consonants:^[5]: 8

• 서포 → Sŏpho → Sopho
• 찔레골 → JJilregol → Jilregol

Notes

1. The 1992 version used oe instead;^[2] Rodong Sinmun still uses oe as of 2022.^[6]