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] It was last updated in 2002.[2]

Transcription rules

Vowels

Chosŏn'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	oe	wi	ŭi	wa	wŏ	wae	we

Consonants

Chosŏn'gŭl		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	ch	chʼ	kʼ	tʼ	pʼ	h	kk	tt	pp	ss	tch	-
Romanization	Final	k	n	t	l	m	p	t	t	t	k	t	pʼ	t	kk	-	-	t	-	ng

In double consonants in the end of a word or before a consonant, only one of them is written:

닭섬 → Taksŏm
물곬 → Mulgol

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.

Special provisions

		Initial consonant of the next syllable
		ㄱk	ㄴn	ㄷt	ㄹ(r)	ㅁm	ㅂp	ㅅ¹s	ㅈch	ㅊchʼ	ㅋkʼ	ㅌtʼ	ㅍpʼ	ㅎh	ㅇ²
Final consonant	ㄱ k	kk	ngn	kt	ngn	ngm	kp	ks	kch	kchʼ	kkʼ	ktʼ	kpʼ	kh	g
	ㄴ n	n-g	nn	nd	nn	nm	nb	ns	nj	nchʼ	nkʼ	ntʼ	npʼ	nh	n
	ㄷ t	tk	nn	tt	nn	nm	tp	ss	tch	tchʼ	tkʼ	ttʼ	tpʼ	th	d
	ㄹ l	lg	ll/nn	ld³	ll	lm	lb	ls	lj³	lchʼ	lkʼ	ltʼ	lpʼ	lh	r
	ㅁ m	mg	mn	md	mn	mm	mb	ms	mj	mchʼ	mkʼ	mtʼ	mpʼ	mh	m
	ㅂ p	pk	mn	pt	mn	mm	pp	ps	pch	pchʼ	pkʼ	ptʼ	ppʼ	ph	b
	ㅅ s	tk	nn	tt	nn	nm	tp	ss	tch	tchʼ	tkʼ	ttʼ	tpʼ	th	s
	ㅇ ng	ngg	ngn	ngd	ngn	ngm	ngb	ngs	ngj	ngchʼ	ngkʼ	ngtʼ	ngpʼ	ngh	ng-

쉬 is romanized shwi.
ㅇ is an initial consonant before a vowel to indicate the absence of sound.
In Sino-Korean words, lt and lch respectively.

Examples

천리마 → Chŏllima
한라산 → Hallasan
압록강 → Amnokkang
은률 → Ŭnnyul
뒤문 → Twinmun

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.

김꽃분이 → Kim Kkotpuni
박동구 → Pak Tong Gu
안복철 → An Pok Chol

A name for administrative units is 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 is 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

References

"Working Paper No. 46" (PDF). UNGEGN. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
"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.

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[1] "Working Paper No. 46" (PDF). UNGEGN. Retrieved 2018-03-17.

[UNGEGN2004-2] "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.