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However, the two countries do use a completely different word for "Korea" in the Korean language. In South Korea, they call South Korea "Hanguk" which means "L
by kyllo 14y ago
However, the two countries do use a completely different word for "Korea" in the Korean language.
In South Korea, they call South Korea "Hanguk" which means "Land of the Han" (Han people being the Korean ethnic group). They call North Korea "Bukhan" which is just "Northern Han."
In North Korea, they call themselves "Joseon" which means "morning calm" and was the name of the last Korean kingdom.(cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon) Meanwhile they call South Korea "South Joseon."
So, they each call themselves and the other "Korea" in a sense, but they disagree on what the word for "Korea" is in Korean.
"Korea" is itself a romanization of "Koryo," which was the name of a much earlier Korean kingdom.
- samatman 14y agoI was kind of blown away when I realised that the Han (Chinese) refer to the Koreans as "Han", also. Their own autonym is pronounced closer to "Hen".
- kyllo 14y agoHan (Chinese) and Han (Korean) are homophones in English and in Korean, but they have a different character and different tone in Chinese, and different meaning. It's completely coincidence that they are both "Han." For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han
- cema 14y agoWow, I did not know it. Thanks!