# Korea or Corea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726 "2002-06-18T18:46:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/1 "2002-06-18T18:46:01Z")
Hopefully some Dopers out there can help out with this question. **Should English speakers spell the country “Korea” or “Corea”?** I’ve been informed by some Koreans (I’ll use this spelling for clarity) that spelling their country’s name with a K is offensive. Supposedly, a C was used until the Japanese forced the change (so Japan would come first alphabetically, no less!). Check out [this website](http://goldsea.com/Air/Issues/Corea/corea.html) for the complete story. This is a popular movement in Korea; during World Cup games you could see large signs with “Corea”. The story triggered my internal BS detectors, so I did a little web searching. [Someone](http://www.geocities.com/neue_strassenbahn/corea.html) has attempted to debunk the theory point by point. Only one cite is given (to a [stamp collection](http://www.postmuseum.go.kr/English/cpe/cpe110w_mr.asp?rdoSelView=1&pYear1=2000&pYear2=1884&pYear3=1910&Opt=2&pPeriod=1&ViewOpt=1)), but I couldn’t connect to the website. I did a search of the Oxford English Dictionary. It lists “Corean” as the spelling during the 17th to 19th centuries. The first cite of “Korean” is 1885. This points to a spelling change before the Japanese annexation of Korea, but does not rule out Japanese influencing or pressuring for the change. Two final points: 1. Japan usually referred to Korea as “Choson” in the past (I’m not sure what the current Japanese word for Korea is). 2. Using the new standard Korean transliteration scheme “Korea” should be spelled “Goryeo” (say “go-ryuh”). (Not that they plan to actually spell it that way.) That’s the limit of my research. Any help? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/2 "2002-06-18T18:51:28Z")
Koryo was one of the three kingdoms in the Korean peninsula. South Koreans nowadays refer to themselves as Deh-Han. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/3 "2002-06-18T19:12:11Z")
It’s definitely [“Corea”](http://www.chickcorea.com/biography.htm). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/4 "2002-06-18T19:24:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > \*\*Koryo was one of the three kingdoms in the Korean peninsula. South Koreans nowadays refer to themselves as Deh-Han. \*\* The nerve of the Koreans calling themselves by a name of their own choosing. Next thing you know the Finns will start using something like Suomi. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/5 "2002-06-18T19:35:07Z")
What about the terms Min Guk and Han Guk? What exactly do they mean and what is their origin? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/6 "2002-06-18T19:37:44Z")
But it’s definitely not [“Chorea”](http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic254.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/7 "2002-06-18T20:04:13Z")
**kasuo** said > [@](#): > > Koryo was one of the three kingdoms in the Korean peninsula. South Koreans nowadays refer to themselves as Deh-Han. I assume the old kingdom name is where Westerners got the name Korea from. Koreans call their country Hanguk. “Han” is the name of the river on which Seoul sits. “guk” in this case means nation or people. So “Hanguk” means something like “People of the Han (River)”. I don’t know Minguk, but Miguk is the Korean name for United States. It means Beautiful Country. (We should be flattered!) I knew someone would bring up Chick! Any one have further ideas on the name change? ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/8 "2002-06-18T22:33:16Z")
I don’t know about Japan FORCING a change, though. The fact is, there is no letter C when you romanise Japanese. Thus camera becomes kamera. So the Japanese will tend to spell Corea as Korea, simply by convention. But the fact is, that the Japanese name for C/Korea ISN’T C/Korea, but “Kankoku”. The “koku” part means country. I can’t find out what the “kan” part means (scr4? Anyone?). So Japan wouldn’t have forced a change AFAIK because they use a different term anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/9 "2002-06-18T23:20:41Z")
And it’s certainly not “Deh-Han.” More like “Tae-Han” as in “Tae-Han-Min-Guk” (that’s a long u), which stands for “Republic of Korea.” All in all, I’ll go with the government of the Republic of Korea over someone who’s decided all on his own to take offense to how something’s transliterated into another alphabet. Feel free to check the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (their spelling) at [http://emb.dsdn.net/english/frame.htm](http://emb.dsdn.net/english/frame.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/10 "2002-06-18T23:23:19Z")
Forgot to ask: Does the offended individual also take offense at how the Korean language calls the United States of America “Beauty Country” or “Flower Flag?” ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/11 "2002-06-19T01:43:34Z")
Hasn’t Korea recently undergone a “reform” of romanized transliteration? Like when the PRC insisted on everything in pinyin and pepole were supposed to call Peking Beijing. Thus Pusan, in the South of Korea, is now spelt Busan. Personally, I don’t see what right they have to tell us what to call things in English. I don’t care what the locals call them, but if we call them Burma (iso Myanmar), Rangoon (iso Yangon), Bombay (iso Mumbai), Rome (iso Roma), etc, etc, that’s our affair. It would be like the UK demanding that the Chinese stop using the phrase “Ying Kwok” or the US said stop using “Mei Kwok” (“Brave” and “Beautiful” countries). It’s none of their business. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/12 "2002-06-19T02:37:10Z")
Tsubaki, could the “Kan” in “Kankoku” be a cognate to the “Han” in “Hanguk”? Monty, the official spelling is certainly still Korea. (And, personally, I use the traditional English names I learned in school; it’s my dialect and my choice.) But there is definitely a movement in Korea to change the spelling “back” to Corea. The offense is apparently directed toward perceived Japanese imperialism (no problems with the Korean names of other countries). I’m mainly wondering if their justification for the change is valid or merely anti-Japanese rhetoric. Hemlock, yes, South Korea recently adopted a standard latin transliteration (and about time). That’s where “Goryeo” comes from. But they’ve made certain specific exceptions. Korea is one, I believe, as is kimchi (instead of gimchi). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/13 "2002-06-19T02:38:24Z")
The English version of the [Korean Embassy’s official Web site](http://emb.dsdn.net/english/frame.htm) spells it with a K. A search of that site for “Corea” returns no results. If K is good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/14 "2002-06-19T02:44:07Z")
And now I see **Monty** already said the same thing. Don’t mind me. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/15 "2002-06-19T03:30:18Z")
Ah, bibliophage. Thanks. I liked your posting. Heck, you went the extra mile (Oops! There’s that “imperialism” in me showing. Should’ve said “kilometre.”) and looked for the alternate spelling on the RoK’s website. ---
**Author:** ![Tsubaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Tsubaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsubaki)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/16 "2002-06-19T05:22:23Z")
**Pleonast** , that IS a possibility, and they just found a Chinese character to match the sound (as they did with America, which has four Chinese characters, but means nothing). Great call! ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/17 "2002-06-19T05:56:51Z")
It’s probably a small number of people who object. This is the first time I’ve heard of it. [hijack]We American military folks often call Korea “The ROK”, and even refers to Korean people as “ROKs”. example: “During the exercise, will our augmentees be Americans or ROKs?” At first it made me cringe. It seems disrespectful to me. In tech school, we called people ‘rocks’ if they were slow on the uptake. I guess I still make that connection. But Koreans don’t mind and in fact use the term themself. It’s an accepted term, at least on military bases.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/18 "2002-06-19T13:01:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hemlock \* > \*\*Hasn’t Korea recently undergone a “reform” of romanized transliteration? Like when the PRC insisted on everything in pinyin and pepole were supposed to call Peking Beijing. Thus Pusan, in the South of Korea, is now spelt Busan. > > Personally, I don’t see what right they have to tell us what to call things in English. I don’t care what the locals call them, but if we call them Burma (iso Myanmar), Rangoon (iso Yangon), Bombay (iso Mumbai), Rome (iso Roma), etc, etc, that’s our affair. > > It would be like the UK demanding that the Chinese stop using the phrase “Ying Kwok” or the US said stop using “Mei Kwok” (“Brave” and “Beautiful” countries). It’s none of their business. \*\* Hemlock, you’re using Cantonese spelling and pronunciation. There have been other threads on this issue. Miss Manners would say you use the words for a foreign country as they standardize. I don’t have to tell you, I think, that Peking for example is a complete bastardization of the Chinese. In the past century the city has been referred to as Peiping aka Beiping (heavenly peace), and Peking aka Peiking aka Beijing (northern capital). Beijing matches the standardized romanization used with China. Where’s the problem? If someone speaking for a significant part of the Korean population wants it spelled “Corea”, I would be happy to comply. But until the government or someone that seems to represent the majority tells me that is the case, I’ll stick with “Korea”. Actually, I’ll use the characters for Korea so there is no confusion with the native speakers. ---
**Author:** ![xejkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/22d042/32.png) [@xejkh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xejkh)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/19 "2002-06-20T05:53:44Z")
Han (Korean) = Kan (Japanese _on_ pronunciation) = Han river Guk (Korean) = koku (Japanese) = country, nation Hanguk (Korean) = Kankoku (Japanese) = South Korea Dae = great/big = Dai (Japanese) = Da (Chinese) Min = people = min (Japanese and Chinese) Dae Han Min Guk = (literal translation) Great Han People Nation, which implies that the country is ruled by the people, not by an autocrat or monarch. “Han” is probably Korean in origin. Korea and Japan had adopted the Chinese system of writing 1000++ years ago (Korea has since discarded it for its own alphabet), and a Chinese character which has the same pronounciation for “han” was used for writing the name of the river and the country. Due to extensive contact the Chinese writing for Korea became the standard in China and Japan. Over the years the pronounciation changed, resulting in the Japanese “kan” versus the “han” in today’s Chinese and Korean. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726/20 "2002-06-20T06:21:16Z")
Well, I agree that it should be Korea; but darn it if the Koreans are not cooperating! : [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/photo\_galleries/newsid\_2052000/2052500.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/photo_galleries/newsid_2052000/2052500.stm) Check picture number 6 in this gallery, all the fans in that stand are propping up red signs all saying “Corea” !!! 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-or-corea/114726.md?page=2)