North Korea

Summary

Official Name

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

International Conventions

CSICH (2008), ICCPR (1981), UNCRPD (2016), UNDRIP (2007)

Population

25,666,000

Principal Languages

Korean

Literacy Rate

100% (2008 UNESCO)

General References

Campbell and King 2011, Comrie 1987

Language Counts

The number of established languages listed for North Korea is 2. All are living languages and are indigenous. Furthermore, 1 is institutional and 1 is developing. Also listed is 1 unestablished language.

Languages

Chinese zho: Scattered throughout country. Users: 51,000 in North Korea. Status: Unestablished.
Korean kor: Widespread. Users: 25,400,000 in North Korea (2019). Status: 1 (National). De facto national language. Classification: Koreanic
Korean Sign Language kvk: Scattered. Users: 128,000 in North Korea (2021 DBS/DOOR/SIL). Estimated 75,000–150,000 deaf signers, assuming 0.3%–0.6% of total population. Status: 5 (Dispersed). Classification: Sign language, Deaf community sign language