Wiki143:Manual of Style/Korea-related articles

The Manual of Style/Korea (MOS:KO) is a style guideline for Wikipedia articles or content related to Korea.

This guideline is complimentary to the overall Wikipedia:Manual of Style. It provides extra guidance for Korea topics that the main MOS does not cover. MOS:KO should not contradict the main MOS; if you believe it does, please post on the talk page. It should also harmonize with other relevant manuals of style, particularly the Japanese MOS and Chinese MOS.

See also Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Korean) (WP:NCKO), which provides further guidance on how to render the names of Korea-related concepts in English.

English words of Korean origin

Some Korean-language terms have been adopted into the English language. If such a term can be found in at least one major reliable English-language dictionary (e.g. the famous traditional dictionaries) from a primarily English-speaking country, we consider it an English-language word. For example, "kimchi" and "chaebol".

Sometimes these terms have a WP:COMMONNAME spelling that differs from the output of typical romanization systems. As we are on the English Wikipedia, spell these terms using the most common spellings used in English sources. For instance, "Template:Xt" and not "Template:!xt" (Revised Romanization) or "Template:!xt" (McCune–Reischauer). Also, do not italicize these words per MOS:FOREIGNITALIC. For how to pluralize such words, check what English dictionaries recommend. These words are often not pluralized; e.g. "kimchis" is uncommon.

Nationality and ethnicity labels

If a concept is specific to North or South Korea, be specific about which Korea is being referred to; do not only use "Korea" or "Korean" to describe it.

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:Xt Template:Xtn

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt Template:Xtn

Avoid the use of "Korean", "Korean-American", "Korean-Canadian", "Zainichi Korean", etc in the infobox and lead (often in the Template:Section link) to describe people from North Korea, South Korea, or the Korean diaspora (see below for Korean people of other periods). These labels are ethnicities and not unambiguous nationalities (i.e. citizenships). Instead, list nationalities that can be verified to reliable sources. An exception to this is if their ethnicity is significantly related to their notability (MOS:INFONAT, MOS:ETHNICITY).

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:Xt Template:XtnTemplate:Notetag

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt Template:Xtn

For historical Korean people of the colonial, Korean Empire, Joseon, and Goryeo periods, it is permissible to describe them as "Korean" in the lead, although you should also identify the state or period that they are primarily associated with.Template:Notetag For people of other historical Koreanic states, avoid describing them as Korean; instead refer to them by the state they are primarily associated with.

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:Xt

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt (Do not describe him as "Korean"; instead describe him only as a "Template:Xt".)

Birth and death places

For birth and death places in article bodies and in variations of Template:Tl, default to the name of the place at the time of birth or death. However, do not use the contemporary spelling or name; default to the spelling used in the most relevant article for that place (Template:Infobox person#birth place, WP:MODERNPLACENAME, WP:KO-CONSISTENT).

For example, for a South Korean person born in 1947 in occupied southern Korea:

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:XtTemplate:Notetag

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt ("Pusan" was the common spelling for "Busan" until Revised Romanization was introduced in 2000. However, the common spelling and article title is now "Busan". Also, South Korea did not exist in 1947; it was established in 1948.)

There is generally no need to list the modern equivalent location of the place inside the infobox.

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:Xt

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt

Do not put the birthplace in the first parentheses of the lead (MOS:BIRTHPLACE). Make sure to follow MOS:GEOLINK.

Romanization

Many of the romanization decisions below are explained on the companion essay Wikipedia:WikiProject Korea/Romanization of Korean on Wikipedia.

When to romanize

If a Korean term does not have a clear WP:COMMONNAME spelling or translation in English (see WP:KO-TRANSLATENAME), you must romanize it.

In general, per MOS:NON-ENG, you should use non-English terms sparingly. Korean terms can be used if they significantly add to understanding. E.g. don't write "Template:Xtn Template:!xt", instead write "Template:Xtn Template:Xt".

What Korean romanization to use

When romanizing a term:

1. Check to see if/how it is covered in WP:NCKO. That page may prescribe modifications to the strict romanizations dictated here.
2. Refer to the table below, and select the most appropriate romanization system based on when or where the term is primarily notable. If notable in multiple categories, prioritize recency.

Primary notability	Romanization system	Example	Notes
Before the division of Korea in 1945 Northern and North Korea	McCune–Reischauer (MR)	Template:Translit ()	Use diacritics per WP:DIACRITICS,Template:Notetag unless you can demonstrate that no diacritics is more popular for that term per WP:COMMONNAME. Follow the 1961 version of the system.
Southern and South Korea Linguistics examples for contemporary Korean	Revised Romanization (RR)	Template:Translit ()	RR officially discourages the use of hyphens to disambiguate pronunciation and in personal names. We also discourage hyphens for disambiguating pronunciation. For hyphens in people names, see WP:KO-STRICT and WP:KOREANNAME. We prohibit indicating optional hyphens like so: Template:!xt or Template:!xt.Template:Notetag Use the original pronunciation-based romanization, not the letter-by-letter romanization. Note that Google Translate produces letter-by-letter romanizations; do not use these.Template:Notetag
Linguistics examples for historical Korean	Yale romanization	Template:Translit ()

Italicization of romanized terms

For the first time you use a romanized term, you should wrap it in the Template:Tl template, with parameters set to indicate which romanization system is being used. This will automatically italicize the term. Subsequent mentions of the term should not be wrapped, and just be italicized. Examples:

• RR: Template:Tld Template:Arrow Template:Transliteration (try hovering your mouse over the term)
• MR: Template:Tld Template:Arrow Template:Transliteration
• Yale: Template:Tld Template:Arrow Template:Transliteration

If the term is a proper noun, you should not italicize. In the transliteration template, you can disable italicization by setting italic=no.

Capitalization of romanized terms

Except for romanized titles of WP:KO-WORKS, which should be in sentence case, capitalization should generally follow MOS:CAPS. Notably for us, if a romanized term is not a proper noun, you should not capitalize it; there may be exceptions based on what is commonly done in reliable sources, however.

Semi-automatic romanization

In general, we recommend you use Template:Tl, Template:Tl, and Template:Tl to semi-automatically romanize Korean. Manual romanizations on Wikipedia have very frequently had mistakes in them.

Note that these templates produce strict romanizations that may differ from the modified romanizations we recommend in our naming conventions. For more information, read WP:KO-STRICT.

Full-width forms of Roman characters

Full-width forms of Roman letters (Ａ-Ｚ, ａ-ｚ), Arabic numerals (０-９), certain punctuation (！＂＃＄％＆＇（）＊＋，－．／：；＜＝＞？＠［＼］＾＿｀｛｜｝～￠￤￥￦) and spaces (　) should not be used; ASCII equivalents should be used instead, even when mixed with CJK characters.

Hangul

When to use Hangul

Hangul can be helpful in clarifying what Korean concepts are being discussed in the Latin script. Romanizations can sometimes be identical for different Hangul, be irreversible, or be unorthodox. Furthermore, for English-language terms that are translations or official names for Korean terms, it can be difficult to understand what the original Korean name was, which possibly hinders researching or linking the concept being discussed.

Korean term as main subject of article

When the main subject of an article is a Korean-language term, you should display Hangul in the first sentence of the lead per Template:Section link. You can also display Hangul in Template:Section link.

Gloss

For any term that isn't the main term of the article, when a romanized or translated Korean term is used for the first time, you should display Korean text for it in parentheses or a footnote using Template:Tl. If the term already has its own article, link it.

If the term already has its own article, do not provide Korean text for it except for if it adds significant understanding.

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:XtTemplate:Xtn

Red XN Template:Xtn Template:!xt Template:Xtn (Do not need Korean text for dol hareubang, as it has its own article already)

Sometimes, even if a term has its own article, the original Hangul may be worth including anyway. In particular, if discussing etymology:

Green tickY Template:Xtn Template:Xt Template:Xtn Template:XtTemplate:Xtn

Formatting Hangul

Hangul should be wrapped in preferably the Template:Tl template. There are multiple reasons why Hangul should be wrapped like this. Translations can also be included using the |lit= parameter.

Avoid repeated language labels

After the first time you display a language label, you should disable subsequent labels in order to reduce visual clutter. In Template:Tl, this is done by setting labels=no. An exception to this is if there are other non-English languages in the article; in which case enable labels when helpful. Consider hiding labels if the language is already introduced inline before the text (e.g. Template:Xtn Template:Xt).

If you don't need to put Hanja, romanization, or translation right next to Hangul, you can alternatively use Template:Tlx.

Italics and bolding for Hangul

Do not use italics or bold for Hangul (MOS:BADITALICS). The templates Template:Tl, Template:Tl, and Template:Tl can be used to remove this formatting in places where it is the default, such as within infoboxes.

Sourcing Hangul

You should provide sources for Hangul text, except for if the Hangul is unambiguous (namely if a romanization is perfectly reversible). Avoid inventing your own Hangul spellings for concepts.

Hanja

When to use Hanja

In contemporary North and South Korea, Hanja is rarely used. However, it has a number of uses on Wikipedia, especially for concepts that are significant before 1945.

Hanja for main topics

The Hanja for the main topic of an article should generally be displayed between one and two times, if Hanja exist. Hanja should sometimes (see next paragraph) be shown in the Template:Section link of the lead. If Template:Tl is on the page, Hanja should appear there.

In general, show Hanja in the lead only if both these conditions are met:

1. The concept was significant before the 1945 division of Korea
2. If it is still extant and significant, its current significance is predominantly because of its historical significance

Exceptions to the above may be determined by local consensus. For example, Hanja could be shown in the lead for a recent person who predominantly uses their Hanja name.

Examples where Hanja should be shown:

Green tickY Template:XtnTemplate:XtTemplate:XtnTemplate:NoteTag

Green tickY Template:XtnTemplate:XtTemplate:XtnTemplate:NoteTag

Examples where Hanja should not be shown:

Red XN Template:XtnTemplate:!xtTemplate:XtnTemplate:NoteTag

Red XN Template:XtnTemplate:!xtTemplate:XtnTemplate:NoteTag

Red XN Template:XtnTemplate:!xtTemplate:XtnTemplate:NoteTag

Hanja for other terms

For terms that aren't the main subject of the article, follow similar principles to those used for Hangul in Template:Section link. Additionally, if the topic is mostly relevant after the division, consider not displaying the Hanja at all if the Hangul is sufficient for grasping what is being discussed.

Providing Hanja alongside Hangul is helpful for disambiguation, explaining etymology, and for topics relating to time periods where the use of Hanja was widespread.

Formatting Hanja

The principles in Template:Section link also apply to Hanja.

In general, you should display Hanja and a corresponding Hangul reading together using the Template:Tl template. If you wish to display only Hanja, use Template:Tld. We recommend against the use of the parameters ko-Hani and ko-Hant; dealing with them adds complication for little practical gain.Template:Notetag

Partial Hanja

In some cases, only parts of Korean terms and names have corresponding Hanja. For example, a person's name with a native Korean given name: "Kim Da-som". In such cases, you can display Korean mixed script as Hanja: Korean: ; Hanja: Template:Category handler. Note that mixed script should match the spacing of the pure Hangul term, per Template:Section link.

Do not use hyphens or other placeholder text to indicate when a term has no Hanja, e.g. Template:Xtn Template:!xt. Instead, use mixed script: Template:Xt.

Spaces for Hanja

While Hangul and Korean mixed script (Hangul and Hanja together) use spaces between words, text written only in Hanja is usually written without spaces. E.g. Template:Xt; the Hangul has a space while the Hanja does not.

Hanja vs. other Chinese characters

There are differences between Hanja and the Chinese characters used elsewhere in the Sinosphere that should be reflected on Wikipedia. The following should not be considered Hanja:

• In some cases, Chinese-language sources transcribe Korean words into Chinese. For example, transcribing the native Korean name Da-som () as Duoshun (Template:Lang-zh).
  • In some cases, when a Korean person already has a Hanja name that is not widely known, Chinese-language sources may invent their own Chinese spelling of the name.
  • Furthermore, some sources (particularly those from mainland China) use simplified Chinese characters, which often do not overlap with contemporary Hanja.
• Japanese sources use kanji, another set of Chinese characters that also sometimes differs from those used in Korea. For example, the Hanja name for South Korea, , is rendered as in Japanese.
  • However, Japan tends not to invent kanji for people when unknown; it tends to rely on phonetic spellings in katakana instead.
• South Korea has also developed its own Chinese-language transcriptions for Korean terms; for example xinqi (Template:Lang-zh) for kimchi (originally a native Korean word without Hanja). Unless explicitly accepted as such in at least one reliable Korean dictionary, such words should also not be considered Hanja.

Unless particularly relevant (e.g. a person is significantly linked to both China and Korea), there is generally no need to mention Chinese transcriptions or romanizations for Korean terms on articles primarily about Korea, for the same reason that listing a Chinese transcription of US president Jimmy Carter's name is not particularly helpful. For example, do not write: Template:Xtn Template:!xt).

Sourcing Hanja

If you provide Hanja, you must provide a source for it.

• Chinese-language sources are less reliable for determining Hanja, per Template:Section link. Instead, prefer the use of Korean-language sources, especially reliable dictionaries.

• Do not cite other wikis, such as the Korean Wikipedia or Namuwiki, because they are unreliable sources.

Even if no known source directly contains a person's Hanja name, sometimes the meaning of a person's name is described; this may be sufficient for inferring what their Hanja are. You should provide a source for the description of the meaning and describe in a footnote (Template:Tl) how you derived their Hanja name.

Article layout

First sentence

Family name footnote or hatnote

For articles about people, if the article title displays family name before given name (as is common in Korean names), you should provide either a Template:Tl or Template:Tl, but not both.Template:Notetag The family name footnote should be placed just after the bolded mention of the person's name, with no space in between. If the family name comes after (i.e. the Western ordering), neither templates are needed.

First parentheses

Template:Markup In general, follow this order in the first parentheses. These elements are not all mandatory; see the notes for descriptions of when and how to use each item.

• English pronunciationTemplate:Notetag
• English acronym for the topicTemplate:Notetag
• Hangul and sometimes HanjaTemplate:NotetagTemplate:Notetag
• Strict romanization(s)Template:Notetag
• Korean pronunciation
• Birth date and death date for people or individual organisms (like a dog or tree)

Do not include:

• Birthplace (MOS:BIRTHPLACE)
• Korean-language acronyms for the topicTemplate:Notetag
• Beginning and end dates for a non-living thing or eventTemplate:Notetag
• Alternate names, if more than oneTemplate:Notetag

If the parentheses become too crowded, consider putting less important information in one or more explanatory footnotes, preferrably variations of Template:Tl or Template:Tl. We recommend you do not use normal reference tags (<ref></ref>) for explanatory footnotes. We would like to keep those reserved for citations.

Infoboxes

Infobox Korean name

We recommend you use Template:Tl, which has semi-automatic romanization, instead of the older Template:Tl, which requires manual romanization.

We recommend you put a modern person's various names in the following parameters:

• Current (or at time of death) legal name in Template:Para
• Legal name at birth in Template:Para
• Stage name in Template:Para

Assume the same principle applies for the Hanja and other parameters as well.

Merging Infobox Korean name into others

If there is another infobox in the article (e.g. Template:Tl), we recommend you merge the name infobox into the other infobox. This is usually accomplished by adding the Template:Para parameter to the name infobox, then adding the name infobox code to some parameter of the other infobox, usually named Template:Para or Template:Para.Template:NoteTag

When multiple language names are involved

If the article topic significantly involves other countries from the Sinosphere, consider using Template:Tl instead, which has parameters for Korean and other Sinosphere languages. If you'd still like semi-automatic romanization of Korean for that template, consider using Template:Tl in that infobox.

Birth and death places in infoboxes

See Template:Section link.

Nationality and ethnicity in infoboxes

See Template:Section link.

Dates and numbers

Traditional calendars

Prior to the 20th century, Korea used a number of different lunisolar calendars (see Korean calendar and Chinese calendar).

We currently do not know of any reliable tools that convert pre-modern (e.g. Joseon-era) Korean lunisolar dates to Wikipedia's preferred Julian or Gregorian calendars. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has an online tool available that we once recommended, but we learned that it's probably inappropriate for Korean history on Wikipedia. KASI calculates the Korean calendar differently from how past Korean states would have done it: KASI uses modern astronomy and math. However, the tool may still be appropriate for modern (i.e. post-Joseon period) uses of the Korean calendar, for example to calculate upcoming dates of traditional holidays.

If you use lunisolar dates (most Korean- and English-language academic works do), do not use Western month names for them. There are multiple reasons for this.Template:Notetag Instead, describe the month names using numbers: Template:Xt, not Template:!xt. For days in intercalary (leap) months, we recommend this phrasing: Template:Xt. The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty began to use the Gregorian calendar on January 1, 1896; if the source you're using is based on that text, use the Gregorian calendar beginning on that date.

Modern date formats

For Gregorian and Julian dates, we allow either the month-day-year (e.g. Template:Tq) or day–month–year (Template:Tq) format. We allow either because neither North nor South Korea officially prefer either of those formats in English-language writings. Consider choosing either of those formats if the article has strong national ties with another English-speaking country that uses that format. Year–month–day (1919-03-01) can be used in tables, infoboxes, and references—if brevity is helpful—but should otherwise be avoided. The date format used in an article should be consistent and should not be changed without good reason or consensus.

Units of measurement

Prefer the use of SI units (MOS:UNIT). If other Korea-related units are used in your sources, such as the li (ri) or pyeong, it is permissible but less preferred to use such units on Wikipedia. If you do use such units, you should link to relevant articles about the units and if feasible provide conversions of them to SI units. Currently, Template:Tl supports conversion from pyeong to other SI units for area.

Number ranges

To express ranges between numbers, dates, and other things, use an en dash (Template:Xt or Template:Xt). Do not use tildes (Template:!xt or Template:!xt), as is done in South Korea (MOS:DASH).

Links

No direct links to the Korean Wikipedia

Do not directly link to the Korean Wikipedia in articles. If the topic doesn't have an article on the English Wikipedia, use Template:Tls instead (MOS:INTERWIKI).

Green tickY Template:Xt Template:Arrow Template:Interlanguage link

Red XN Template:!xt Template:Arrow Hyeon Sun (misleading blue link; gives impression English Wikipedia has article)

If the topic already has an article on the English Wikipedia, do not link to the Korean Wikipedia version at all. If you think the Korean version has information that would be useful on the English version, put the Template:Tl banner at the top of the relevant English Wikipedia article instead.

Wiktionary links

It is possible to link to the Wiktionary definitions of Korean words and phrases. This typically involves the use of Template:Tl or an external wikilink, e.g. [[wikt:예]].

Use Wiktionary links for Korean text sparingly. They should generally only be used in the following circumstances:

• If the link offers significant understanding of the main topic of the article that cannot be easily communicated within the article
• Linguistic contexts (e.g. when the topic is about lexical items)

Do not do the following:

• Link each character without regard for where word divisions actually are.
  • E.g. Template:Tld → Template:Linktext. The individual definitions of the characters cannot be used to tell you what the overall word means.
• Segment text incorrectly.
  • E.g. Template:Tld is incorrect; Template:Tld is correct.
• Add Wiktionary links to
  • personal names (including pseudonyms). The meaning of a name does not describe a person, and the definition of a personal name is usually nothing more than "a personal name".
  • terms that are not suitable for dictionary entries (e.g. 새터데이 – merely a transcription of English "Saturday" and is not used as a word in Korean).
  • Korean Hanja terms consisting of two or more characters (for these, Wiktionary just gives "Hanja form of Hangul"; see wikt:博物館#Korean for an example). Instead, it is better to link to the Hangul entry directly.

Two or more links in a row are discouraged (WP:SEAOFBLUE).

Families and family trees

Lists of family members and family trees should have reliable sources given for them. Follow WP:KOREANNAME for how to render the names of people.

Avoid excessively detailed family trees (WP:NOTGENEALOGY, WP:INDISCRIMINATE). If you do give a family tree, default to only giving the immediate family (no in-laws, only biological and adopted parents, spouses, children, siblings). If there is a more distant relative who is interesting, you can consider mentioning them briefly, but avoid this if it does not impact their main notability. If you do so, avoid indiscriminate listing of all the relatives between these two people.

Referencing Korean-language sources

For Korean-language sources, the following practices are encouraged:

• if you're using some variant of Template:Tl, providing the original Hangul title in the script-title parameter (not the title parameter) with ko: just before the title.
• providing a translated title of the work, e.g. in the trans-title parameter.
  • for these, follow the rules of this MOS and WP:NCKO; e.g. follow WP:KOREANNAME spellings, follow Template:Section link, etc.
• preferring the use of English for parameters if unambiguous (e.g. for place names or publishers with known English names, use the English names). If you translate or romanize text yourself, provide the original Korean text in the reference.
• not squeezing the entire Hangul name into the last parameter. If you'd like to avoid the comma appearing in the name, consider using the author-mask parameter as well.
• if you use a news aggregator, specify the original publisher and the aggregator, see WP:KO/RS#NA.

See also

• Category:Korean multilingual support templates