아침은 빛나라 이 강산
   은금에 자원도 가득한
삼천리 아름다운 내 조국
   반만년 오랜 력사에
찬란한 문화로 자라난
   슬기론 인민의 이 영광
몸과 맘 다 바쳐 이 조선
   길이 받드세

백두산 기상을 다 안고
   근로의 정신은 깃들어
진리로 뭉쳐진 억센 뜻
   온 세계 앞서 나가리
솟는 힘 노도도 내밀어
   인민의 뜻으로 선 나라
한없이 부강하는 이 조선
   길이 빛내세

Ach'imŭn pinnara i kangsan
   Ŭn'gŭme chawŏndo kadŭkhan
Samch'ŏlli arŭmdaun nae choguk
   Panmannyŏn oraen ryŏksaë
Ch'allanhan munhwaro charanan
   Sŭlgiron inminŭi i yŏnggwang
Momgwa mam ta pach'yŏ i chosŏn
   Kiri pattŭse

Paektusan kisangŭl ta anko
   Kŭlloŭi chŏngsinŭn kittŭrŏ
Chilliro mungch'yŏjin ŏksen ttŭt
   On segye apsŏ nagari
Sonnŭn him nododo naemirŏ
   Inminŭi ttŭsŭro sŏn nara
Hanŏpsi puganghanŭn i chosŏn
   Kiri pinnaese

Let morning shine on the silver and gold of this land,
Three thousand leagues packed with natural wealth.
My beautiful fatherland.
The glory of a wise people
Brought up in a culture brilliant
With a history five millennia long.
Let us devote our bodies and minds
To supporting this Korea for ever.

The firm will, bonded with truth,
Nest for the spirit of labour,
Embracing the atmosphere of Mount Paektu,
Will go forth to all the world.
The country established by the will of the people,
Breasting the raging waves with soaring strength.
Let us glorify for ever this Korea,
Limitlessly rich and strong.

As with Japanese, with which it shares some grammatical features, Korean is sometimes called an isolate, and sometimes an Altaic language. Like Japanese and some other East Asian languages, Korean has historically borrowed many words from neighboring China.

For thousands of years, a system based on borrowed Chinese characters (hanja) was used in Korea to read and write Korean. However, hanja fit poorly with the Korean language's grammar and phonetics, and was difficult to learn. A new writing system, hangul, was invented in 1446 by King Sejong the Great, with the intention to foster wider literacy among the Korean people. Hangul was promulgated in the Hunmin Jeongeum (훈민정음/訓民正音). Unlike Chinese characters, hangul is a phonetically based alphabet and can be learned very quickly. Hangul's adoption was long resisted by the Korean elite, but it is now used exclusively in North Korea. In South Korea, Chinese loan words are sometimes still written in hanja, but their use has been steadily decreasing.

남산위에 저 소나무 철갑을 두른 듯
바람서리 불변함은 우리 기상일세

가을 하늘 공활한데 높고 구름 없이
밝은 달은 우리 가슴 일편단심일세

이 기상과 이 맘으로 충성을 다하여
괴로우나 즐거우나 나라 사랑하세

무궁화 삼천리 화려강산
대한사람 대한으로 길이 보전하세

Donghae mulgwa Baekdusani mareugo daltorok
Haneunimi bouhasa urinara manse

Namsan wie jeo sonamu cheolgabeul dureun deut
Baram seori bulbyeonhameun uri gisangilse

Gaeul haneul gonghwalhande nopgo gureum eopsi
Balgeun dareun uri gaseum ilpyeondansimilse

I gisanggwa i mameuro chungseongeul dahayeo
Goerouna jeulgeouna nara saranghase

Mugunghwa samcheolli hwaryeogangsan
Daehansaram daehaneuro giri bojeonhase

Until the East Sea's waters and Baekdu Mountain are dry and worn away,
Heaven-god protects, our nation eternal!

As that pinetree atop Namsan is wrapped in armour,
wind or frost, our spirit is unchangeable.

Autumn sky, a vast void high and cloudless,
the bright moon is our heart, single and true.

Autumn sky, a vast void high and cloudless,
the bright moon is our heart, single and true.

Hibiscus, three thousand li, splendid rivers and mountains,
Great Han People, let us long preserve the Great Han.