Today, North Korea is well-known for its seeming hatred of foreigners, and the one-party dictatorship that currently rules the country. Yet, the languages of North Korea, are more plentiful than I ever would’ve thought!
Whilst not as varied as most other countries (owing to the fact that there has been almost no immigration to the Hermit Kingdom in several centuries), there are more languages spoken in North Korea than you’d imagine…
Indeed, the languages of North Korea are particularly strange, with the North Korean government being strange with foreign languages, even though learning a foreign language is a part of their basic school curriculum.
Official Language of North Korea
Lying on the Korean Peninsular just north of Korean-speaking South Korea, it probably comes as no surprise to find out that the official language of North Korea is… well, Korean.
However, the Korean spoken in the Hermit Kingdom is slightly different to the Korean spoken in South Korea, owing to the large amount of English, Russian and Japanese loan words in the Korean spoken by South Koreans.
Wanting to support his idea of Juche (North Korea’s policy of “self-reliance”), North Korean founder and Supreme Leader, Kim Il-Sung announced the creation of the Munhwaŏ dialect (or North Korean standard language) in 1966.
To create Munhwaŏ, Kim Il-Sung took the standard dialect of Korean spoken around Pyongyang (known as the Pyongyang dialect) and stripped it of all its English, Japanese and Russian loan words, replacing them with new Korean ones.
Due to these alterations made by Kim Il-Sung, the Korean spoken by North and South Koreans are wholly different, with the two occasionally not being able to understand one another (even though they speak the “same” language).
From 1966 onwards, Munhwaŏ has been the official language used in everyday life, the state media, education, work and healthcare, with its use being enforced greatly by the state (as they can then control what North Koreans can and cannot read/watch).
According to official estimates, there are roughly 25.67 million North Korea, all of whom can speak Munhwaŏ to at least a basic standard (with most speaking it as their first language due to the regime’s insistence that Munhwaŏ is the only language of the country).
Regional Languages of North Korea
Despite Munhwaŏ/North Korean standard language serving as the official language of North Korea, there are several regional languages spoken in the country too, all of which are designated as dialects of Munhwaŏ by the North Korean government.
Pyongan Dialect
In the northwest of North Korea, especially around the cities of Kusong and Sinuiju, you’ll find that the dialect of Korean spoken by the locals is quite different from Munhwaŏ.
Known as the Pyongan dialect, it differs from Munhwaŏ mostly in terms of pronunciation of its vowels, having an eight vowel system, which makes sound like a mixture between standard Korean and Chinese, which is rather weird for many Korean speakers!
Although mostly a language spoken in the northwest of the country, the language is also well spoken in the Hermit Kingdom’s capital of Pyongyang, especially so along the outskirts.
Interestingly, Pyongan is the dialect spoken by many of the Korean speakers in China, especially in areas on the China-North Korea border, which have historically been part of both Korea and China.
As with almost everything with the Hermit Kingdom, the real number of Pyongan speakers in the country isn’t that well-known, with some estimates placing the number of Pyongan speakers at 100,000 people, whilst others claim 150,000.
Unfortunately, what we do know about Pyongan is that it’s dying out.
Since 1966, the North Korean government has slowly been phasing out Pyongan as peoples’ native language, with it really only being the elders who speak it as a native language (although there are undoubtedly young North Koreans who speak it natively too!)
Gyeonggi Dialect
If you’re familiar with Korean history, you’ll probably know that the Gyeonggi dialect is the historical language that was spoken in Korea, when the country was ruled by the Joseon dynasty.
Today, it is the most prestigious of all the Korean dialects, much like how Received Pronunciation is in the UK.
Despite being the dialect historically spoken by members of the upper classes, the dialect is actually quite well spoken in certain areas of North Korean, albeit in isolation from North Korea’s other Gyeonggi speakers.
Currently, there are two places in the Hermit Kingdom where we know Gyeonggi is definitely spoken.
The first is the the special administrative region of the Kaesong Industrial Region (North Korea’s main industrial area) and the city of Kaesong itself, which borders the Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea.
The second is the Kaepung county of the North Hwanghae province of southern North Korea (which is located next to the aforementioned Kaesong Industrial Region). In both places, Gyeonggi is used mostly at home, whilst Munhwaŏ is used at work.
Sadly, as with Pyongan, Gyeonggi is slowly dying out (in North Korean anyway), as the North Korean government have begun to promote the theory that Gyeonggi speakers are descendants of “capitalist scum” who helped to hinder the “greatness” of Korea.
Although it didn’t affect standard North Korean as much as the Pyongan dialect did, Gyeonggi did actually influence the pronunciation of many standard North Korean words, mostly to do with the letters “o” and “u”.
Secondary Languages of North Korea
It may surprise you, but even despite North Korea’s extreme isolationism, there are secondary languages taught in North Korean schools… it’s just that beyond having a job in North Korea’s tourism industry or the civil service, most North Koreans will never use the language.
Russian
As a communist country in the mid-20th century, North Korea was a part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. Thanks to this, from the 1950’s until the early 1970’s, most North Korean schoolchildren would learn Russian at school.
Whilst this was only to a basic standard, this was meant to prepare young North Koreans for life in the diplomatic service. This was
Although the language would be slowly replaced by others (namely Chinese) beginning in the early 1970’s, Russian would be phased out entirely following the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Today, the only way a North Korean would learn Russian is if he/she was in the diplomatic service and was posted to Russia (where North Korea has a rather large embassy in Moscow).
Due to the age of the people who learned Russian at school, and the time that’s likely passed since they last used Russian, most estimates state that there are less than 10,000 people in North Korea who can speak the language competently.
Beyond this, there are another 10,000 Russian-North Koreans, who migrated from North Korea to the USSR during WWII, and back to North Korea following the Korean War, thus leaving them fluent in both Russian and Korean.
Chinese
Since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, North Korea’s main trading partner has become fellow communist country, China. Due to this, Chinese has become a more important language for North Koreans than ever before!
Owing mostly to the dissolution of the USSR, and China replacing, Chinese began to replace Russian as the second language most North Koreans learned at school, thus leaving many fluent in the language.
Rather oddly, if you are a good worker, North Korean officials may send you one of the many Chinese-owned factories that are staffed exclusively by North Korean workers (as a part of the North Korean government’s attempt to earn US dollars).
Whilst it isn’t strictly known what languages are used inside these factories, we can assume that at least a few North Korean workers will have to learn Chinese (so they can communicate with their Chinese bosses), thus being left fluent in the language when they return home.
Sadly, estimates on the number of Chinese speakers in North Korea vary drastically, with some claiming that there are as many as 10,000 Chinese speakers in the country, whilst others claim there are 50,000!
Japanese
During WWII, Japan controlled much of East Asia, including both North and South Korea. Whilst the Japanese occupation of the country was brutal, it did allow many North Korean to travel to Japan much easier than before.
Indeed, over the course of Japan’s occupation of the peninsular, a total of 94,000 North Koreans migrated to Japan, often moving to big cities like Tokyo in search of better education and in some cases, a better life too.
Since the end of the war, and the formation of the North Korean state, the North Korean government began lobbying for the return of their citizens, which Japan did (much to the frustration of many Japanese-Koreans).
Upon returning, many of these Japanese-Koreans were ostracized by society as a whole, with most Japanese-Koreans communities being located in Pyongyang, with young Japanese-Koreans typically marrying other Japanese-Koreans.
Due to their better education, the 1960’s and 1970’s saw Japanese-Koreans be slightly better off than the average North Korean, but the North Korean Famine of the 1990’s soon saw their prestige and perks drop significantly.
The North Korean government would also capitalize on this by using the Japanese-Korean community as a scapegoat.
Mostly thanks to North Korea’s geographical proximity to Japan (and the need for Japanese-speaking North Korean diplomats due to their endless missile tests) many schools teach Japanese as a second language.
To date, the number of Japanese speakers in the country is estimated to be at around 125,000 people.
English
Yes, I was as surprised to learn this as you are.
Despite North Korea’s hostility towards the west, in particular the English-speaking country of the US, many North Korean children are growing up and learning English at school, rather than Chinese.
Much like everything else in the Hermit Kingdom, the North Korean state government have given an official reason as to why their children need to learn the language of the enemy:
According to state media, English is the language of the international community.
Despite North Korea’s state media portraying North Korea as the world’s de facto superpower, they have acknowledged that American “capitalist scum” have made their language one of the most spoken in the world through their capitalist imperialism.
As with the other languages taught in North Korean schools, North Korea doesn’t teach their children English too well (out of fear that they may one day access forbidden American books and/or TV shows/movies and realize just how desolate North Korea is!)
However, teaching English as a statewide policy was only introduced a few years ago, meaning that estimates on the number of English speakers in the country are varied, ranging from 500 at the lowest, to as much as 5,000 (with most estimates stating 1,000).
What do you think of the languages of North Korea? Does this make you want to visit the Hermit Kingdom any more or less? Tell me in the comments!