South Korea calls its northern neighbour Bukhan (북한), or “north Han”, a variation of how the South refers to itself: Hanguk (한국), meaning “Han nation”, a shortening of Daehan Minguk (대한민국), the Republic of Korea.
However, North Korea calls itself Joseon (조선), a shortened version of Joseon Minjujuui Inmin Gonghwaguk (조선민주주의인민공화국), or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It has traditionally referred to the South as Namjoseon (남조선), or “south Joseon”.
Han refers to the Han river, which flows through Seoul. It barely borders North Korea, but it’s north of the river, so the name Bukhan works in a way. Joseon is a reference to a historic name of Korea from the Joseon dynasty. It refers to the entirety of the Korean peninsula, not the best name to refer to just North Korea. Similar with the name Korea which comes from Goryeo, the name of unified Korea before the Joseon era.
I vaguely recalled Joseon and Goryeo being different dynasty/periods.
But i had heard that Han as a designation for Korea ultimately comes from the Chinese Han dynasty which was heavily influential/directly controlled large areas of modern day Korea/Vietnam.
Was the river named to honor the dynasty or is that just not true?
Han refers to the Han river, which flows through Seoul. It barely borders North Korea, but it’s north of the river, so the name Bukhan works in a way. Joseon is a reference to a historic name of Korea from the Joseon dynasty. It refers to the entirety of the Korean peninsula, not the best name to refer to just North Korea. Similar with the name Korea which comes from Goryeo, the name of unified Korea before the Joseon era.
Thank you!
I vaguely recalled Joseon and Goryeo being different dynasty/periods.
But i had heard that Han as a designation for Korea ultimately comes from the Chinese Han dynasty which was heavily influential/directly controlled large areas of modern day Korea/Vietnam.
Was the river named to honor the dynasty or is that just not true?