page_title: South Korea
section_title: Language
hierarchical_section_title: South Korea / Demographics / Language
caption_attribution_description: English: Linguistic map of Korea Français&#160;: Carte linguistique de la Corée 한국어: 한국 언어 지도
context_page_description: South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea.
  The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo, which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia under Gwanggaeto the Great. Half of South Korea's over 51 million people live in the Seoul Capital Area, the fourth largest metropolitan economy in the world.
  The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BC. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty and the Joseon dynasty. The succeeding Korean Empire was annexed into the Empire of Japan in 1910. After World War II, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S.-administered zones, with the latter becoming the Republic of Korea in August 1948.
context_section_description: Korean is the official language of South Korea, and is classified by most linguists as a language isolate. Korean is not related to any Chinese languages, although it incorporates a number of words that are Chinese in origin. Additionally, Korean spoken in South Korea uses a significant number of loan words from English and other European languages. Korean uses an indigenous writing system called Hangul, created in 1446 by King Sejong to provide a convenient alternative to the Classical Chinese Hanja characters that were difficult to learn and did not fit the Korean language well. South Korea still uses some Chinese Hanja characters in limited areas, such as print media and legal documentation.
  The Korean language in South Korea has a standard dialect known as Seoul (after the capital city), with an additional 4 Korean language dialect groups in use around the country.
  Almost all South Korean students today learn English throughout their education, with some optionally choosing Japanese or Mandarin as well.
caption: Dialects of the Korean language
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