北韓 朝鮮 韓國 南朝鮮 ? why so many names 4 corea?

[geek_frappa]

北韓?? 朝鮮?? (north)

韓國 ??? 南朝鮮 ??(south)

why so many different names?

is one name more politically acceptable than another?

[confucius]

Chao Xian for North Korea

Han Guo for South Korea

It will be interesting to see which one is "Chosen" when the two reunite.

("Chosen" is the Japanese word for Korea and uses the chao xian characters.)

[trien27]

朝鲜(Chosen) is the Japanese name for Korea. This is now used for North Korea.

韩国(Hankuk/Hanguk/Hankook/Hangook)is the Korean name for Korea. This is now used for South Korea.

北韩is the Chinese name for North Korea.

南韩is the Chinese name for South Korea.

高丽or 高句丽is the ancient name for Korea.

Note: 韩国 is also the name of an ancient Kingdom in China (It isn't modern Korea)

[skylee]

I think their official names in Chinese are -

North Korea = 朝鲜人民共和国，thus 朝鲜

South Korea = 大韩民国, thus 韩国

In HK, however, they are usually (but not officially) called 北韩 and 南韩, simple and easy.

[Ian_Lee]

There are so many names for Korea because the Korean people haven't made up their minds on what to call their country (No joke -- that is what I heard in a Korean symposium)

朝鲜 -- the whole period of Li Dynasty from 14th to early 20th century used to be called 朝鲜;

高丽 -- First unified Korean dynasty established in early 10th century;

高句丽 -- Strongest country of the Three Kingdom period;

韓國 -- Recent term but has origin in ancient kingdom.

English term Korea is based on 高丽 -- "Koryo".

[geek_frappa]

wow! cool.

in the symposium, did they talk about Corea and Korea spellings?

[Ian_Lee]

Before 1992, 南朝鮮 was the correct political term in Mainland usage.

After 1992, 韓國 was the correct political term in Mainland usage.

Per Beijing, two countries called 朝鮮 and 韓國 coexist on the peninsual even though the whole wide world uses the terms of North Korea (北韓) and South Korea (南韓) -- including HK and Taiwan.

[geek_frappa]

謝謝 ...

this explains a lot.

[eric]

why do some people spell Korea with a C like Corea? is that the British way or something?

[skylee]

eric, it is about national pride.

Korea claims that originally the country was named "Corea". This name can be found in some recently discovered old french maps. It is said that the name was changed to start with a "K" during the Japanese occupation so that alphabetically Korea would be after Japan. Some Koreans now want to rectify this.

I think you can find more information on this story on the internet.

[Quest]

ahhh... korean pride again..

[eric]

but English isn't even the native language of Korea or Japan!!

If that was the case, why would we learn it with a K in America? We were at war with Japan around that time no? Why would we change it here? Maybe Korea decided after the occupation that they should come before Japan?

[skylee]

eric, the following links provide more information about the story. You can see there are different views on this topic.

Breaking the occupation spell

Korea or Corea?

Did Japan change Corea to Korea?

Names of Korea

[ala]

朝鲜 was the original Chinese appointed name for Korea, and used most extensively during the Korean Li dynasty.

Japan also used this name for Korea until after WWII.

Ian_Lee, North Korea today in Japanese is 北朝鮮 (kita chousen) also, and South Korea (due to SK's insistence) is 韓国 (kankoku).　　The Mainland Chinese also use 北朝鲜 or sometimes just 朝鲜 for NK. The Korean peninsula in both Chinese and Japanese is still called 朝鲜半岛.

韩国/韓國 is also the name of a Chinese state before the Qin unification, Korea has nothing to do with it.

Per Beijing, two countries called 朝鮮 and 韓國 coexist on the peninsual even though the whole wide world uses the terms of North Korea (北韓) and South Korea (南韓) -- including HK and Taiwan.

The North Koreans are not happy being called 北韓 (the English term Korea on the other hand is neutral). HK and Taiwan should respect its wishes, instead of flaunting their own political agenda. But of course, Taiwan still calls the Mainland 中共 and there's no official diplomatic communication between Taiwan and NK. Actually, all Chinese influenced nations, with the exception of Taiwan and South Korea, call North Korea 北朝鲜 as the North Koreans wish. This is because the Sinitic influenced languages are capable of expressing this nuance (regardless if they use characters anymore) that the neutral term "Korea" could not. The Vietnamese term for North Korea is Bắc Triều tiên (北朝鮮). The Chinese (esp KMT) in Taiwan I bet wouldn't be very happy if the Japanese still called the Chinese 支那人, though it is a phonetic approximant of the internationally accepted "China", "Chine" etc. Of course not. Names that are perfectly neutral and okay in one group of languages (Western European) are often politically charged and full of nuances in another group (East Asian).

[hparade]

people in some countries/areas usually think their own terms are official and universal without been awaring that there are many varieties out there... maybe they need to widen their eyes

[Ian_Lee]

Ala:

Taiwan and HK hardly have any official or non-official contact with North Korea. Why would/should North Korea care about what the media in both places label it?

By the way, Seoul also wished Beijing not to call Seoul as "Han-Cheng" after the establishment of diplomatic relationship in 1992. Did Beijing ever adhere to its wish?

Taiwan and HK called North Korea as 北韓. But PRC also called South Korea as 南朝鮮 before 1992. Seoul was unhappy about it. Then why did Beijing use such label for over 40 years (1950-1992). Wasn't there a political agenda?

But everybody knows that in Chinese, names mean a lot. 北韓 and 南朝鮮 imply that they are illegitimate regimes.

That is why Beijing is so pricky about what ROC/Taiwan is called in the international arena.

[Ian_Lee]

Ala:

One more addition.

As you said, Japan called North Korea as 北朝鮮. But North Koreans also hate it to the gut if Japanese call them "Chosenjin" which carries a strong colonial legacy.

[shibo77]

These are what the Koreans call their own nation:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea)

jo-seon min-ju-ju-ui in-min gong-hwa-guk 조선 민주주의 인민 공화국

(朝鮮民主主義人民共和國)

Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea)

dae-han-min-guk 대한민국 (大韓民國)

The North Koreans abolished hanja, Chinese characters, in 1949. But the South Koreans continued to use hanja until this day.

The Chinese characters for "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" are adopted from the hanja characters which the South Koreans use.

The romanisation system used here is "1959-SK", namely the South Korea's Ministry of Education system adopted in July of 2000.

In this way, the short names for these two nations, 朝鲜 Chao2 Xian3 and 韩国 Han2 Guo2 would be most correct. (In simplified characters and Hanyu Pinyin)

- Shibo

[skylee]

But the South Koreans continued to use hanja until this day.

I guess it depends on how you define the term "use".

[shibo77]

Most educated South Koreans, those who have completed either university or secondary school, recognises to a varying amount of Chinese characters, hanja. I think that "use" is an exaggeration, maybe "... continued the hanja tradition, while the North Koreans abolished it." fits better?

I am always learning.

- Shibo