Korean peninsula’s north-south split has created a distinct lingustic divide

In the closing days of World War II, the Korean Peninsula, home to one of the most ethnically homogenous populations in the world with political boundaries among the oldest on earth, was arbitrarily divided by the great powers.

Competing regimes have since applied contrasting approaches of policy and planning to the Korean language, which have far-reaching implications for possible reunification and for North Korean refugees living in the South.

Language, division

In South Korea post-1945, there was an impetus to remove hancha (Chinese characters) in favour of the Korean hangul system only, and to expel Japanese loan words from the language. But more recently, the country’s overall laissez-faire approach to its language has meant that language change has been largely driven by the linguistic market and the whims of the public. This has meant an increasing influence of Japanese and English on the Korean language.

In the North, hancha was also removed in favour of hangul-only writing as the North placed a premium on mass literacy for the effective spread of propaganda and the advancement of socialist revolution. According to Soviet sources, beginning with a 1945 illiteracy rate of more than three quarters (and even higher for mixed script), North Korea virtually eliminated illiteracy even before the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.

However, it...

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