Chairman
"We should take great pride in having an excellent national language, and give fuller play to its excellent features through our everyday language."
The excellent features of the Korean language are also prominent in terms of its pronunciation. It can correctly pronounce and spell almost every word of any languages in the East and the West.
The Latin notation of Korean is a norm of notation indispensable in writing. They often have to write Korean words in Latin characters. In particular, proper nouns of Korean, namely, the names of people, places, relics, remains, trademarks, and many other words that are impossible to deliver their correct meaning by Latin translations inevitably require that they are transferred by transliteration or phonetic transcription.
DPRK designated the Latin Notation of Korean in 1992 which consists of five chapters and 18 articles and it is as follows:
Consonants
ㄱ-k ㅋ-kh ㄲ-kk ㄹ-r
ㄷ-t ㅌ-th ㄸ-tt ㅁ-m
ㅂ-p ㅍ-ph ㅃ-pp ㄴ-n
ㅅ-s ㅆ-ss ㅇ-ng
ㅈ-j ㅊ-ch ㅉ-jj ㅎ-h
Vowels
ㅏ-a ㅑ-ya ㅓ-ŏ ㅕ-yŏ ㅗ-o
ㅛ-yo ㅜ-u ㅠ-yu ㅡ-ŭ ㅣ-i
ㅐ-ae ㅔ-e ㅚ-oe ㅟ-wi ㅒ-yae
ㅖ-yé ㅘ-wa ㅙ-wae ㅝ-wŏ ㅞ-we
ㅢ-ŭi
Chapter 1 deals with the principles.
This chapter stipulates; Korean words are to be transcribed into Latin characters mainly in accordance with the rules of standard Korean pronunciation; Korean words are to be transcribed into Latin characters according to the common pronunciation, not depending on the rule of one particular country; this notation is to be applied in a unified way to all fields (publication, information, news report, mapping, signboard, trademark, et al.) in which Korean characters are to be phonetically transcribed into Latin characters.
Chapter 2 deals with the phonetic transcription and indicates that it is based on alphabetical transcription.
In phonetic transcription, unlike alphabetical transcription, some vowels like "ㅐ" and "ㅚ" are transcribed into "ae" and "oe" instead of "ai" and "oi", and such consonants as "ㅈ" and "ㅉ" are transcribed into "j" and "jj", but "ㅊ", a Korean consonant with an aspirated sound, is recorded as "ch" according to the traditional Latin pronunciation.
Chapter 3 deals with the transcription of phonemic variants and specifies the transcription of the variants of pronunciations and the sounds of consonants subjoined at the end of Korean orthographic syllables in weak positions. For example, it says that the unvoiced sound "ㄱ" is pronounced in voiced sound when it lies between vowels or between a resonant and a vowel and, in such cases, it is written as "g" instead of "k".
Chapter 4 describes the transcription of sound changes. Paragraphs from 9 to 12 stipulate the transcription of sound changes, specifying the transcription of pronunciation variants caused by changes. For example, it stipulates that although the Korean word "국문" is written as "kukmun" by alphabetical transcription, it is transcribed into "kungmun" in consideration of the change in speech sound. Accordingly, the Korean consonant "ㄱ" is written as "k" according to alphabetical transcription, but it is transcribed into various ways such as "k", "g" and "ng" according to phonetic transcription. This is why re-transcription is impossible and unnecessary in phonetic transcription.
Chapter 5 consisting of six paragraphs from Paragraph 13 to Paragraph 18 is supplementary provisions that stipulate the use of hyphen, Latin capital letters and separable signs, the transcription of numbers, spacing in the transcription of proper nouns, and the application of some customarily fixed marking forms of phonetic transcription.
As seen above, with the designation and perfection of the phonetic transcription method of the DPRK, which is capable of sustaining the mood of various Korean pronunciations and consistent with the principles of phonetic transcription, favourable conditions have been created for foreigners to study the Korean language and practise Korean pronunciation, and it has contributed to preventing confusion as to hearing by noting proper nouns including the names of places and people as closely to their modern pronunciations as possible.
In addition, the principles of alphabetical and phonetic transcription have consistently been adhered to in conformity with the phonological features of the Korean language and the structural features of the letters and the historical features of its development, thus preventing great confusion in the practice of Latin notation of the Korean language and paving the way for making a positive contribution to the work of international organizations.
