Komir?… Criticism Mounts Over Indiscriminate Use of English Names by Public Institutions

Institutions Cited for Using Only English Names in National Institute of the Korean Language Survey
Korean Name Must Be Provided Alongside English Abbreviation
Findings Not Communicated Directly to Institutions
Results Announced Only on Institute Website
Relevant Institutions Unaware of or Overlooked Issues
Assemblywoman Lim: "Legislation to Strengthen Enforcement Underway"

It has been found that many public institutions have failed to comply with the Korean language notation principle, which requires the use of the Korean name alongside the abbreviated English name of the institution.

Violations were found in a wide range of cases, from familiar examples such as "LH (Korea Land and Housing Corporation)" to less well-known ones like "KOMIR (Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation)." Despite repeated warnings from the National Institute of the Korean Language, many institutions either failed to recognize this requirement or knowingly took no action.

According to data submitted by Democratic Party lawmaker Lim Ohkyung, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, the National Institute of the Korean Language conducted a "public language usage evaluation" of 118 public institutions last year. The results showed that 32 institutions were found to have used only the English abbreviation for their names.

The current Framework Act on the Korean Language stipulates that the names of institutions must be written in Korean when preparing official documents, including press releases. If an English abbreviation is used, the Korean name must be provided alongside it. However, this principle is not being properly observed in practice. In fact, 32 public institutions, including Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), were cited by the National Institute of the Korean Language for using only their English abbreviations.

The problem is that these findings were not properly shared within the government. According to Lim's office, the National Institute of the Korean Language only released the evaluation results through the website of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and did not directly notify the institutions evaluated. As a result, 23 out of the 32 institutions cited (including Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation) were completely unaware of the issue.

There were also cases where institutions failed to make improvements even after being made aware of the problem. The Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation used "Komir," a direct transliteration of its English abbreviation KOMIR, as its official Korean name. A representative explained, "We use Komir, which is the Korean transliteration of our English abbreviation KOMIR, as our official name." However, this essentially means the official Korean name has been altered into a foreignized version.

Assemblywoman Lim stressed, "It is a serious problem that public institutions subject to evaluation are not even aware of the issues identified," adding, "The National Institute of the Korean Language's public institution evaluation system needs to be improved, and institutions must actively participate in preserving proper Korean language culture."

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the Seoul Metropolitan Government received 4,857 citations over two years in the "Korean language usage evaluation in press releases," which has been conducted by the National Institute of the Korean Language as part of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's joint evaluation of local governments since 2023.

According to the Framework Act on the Korean Language, public institutions must write official documents using terms and sentences that are easy for the general public to understand, and must use Korean in accordance with language norms. However, the Seoul Metropolitan Government was cited numerous times for using foreign words such as "personal color," "pettique," and "zero waste" in press releases, as well as for violating language norms.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government did not take any corrective action afterwards. In addition, unnecessary use of English was prominent in policy names. For example, the name "Great Hangang" was used for a Han River-related project, and "River Bus" for a Han River bus project, both of which run counter to the intent of the Framework Act on the Korean Language.

In the "Fun Station" project, which utilized unused subway station spaces, only the English name "Runner Station" was initially used at Yeouinaru Station. After being pointed out by Lim's office, the Korean transliteration "Reoneo Suteisyeon" was added, but even this was merely a phonetic rendering of the English term.

The National Institute of the Korean Language recommends language purification to local governments such as the Seoul Metropolitan Government in accordance with Articles 4 and 14 of the Framework Act on the Korean Language. However, there are concerns that the lack of legal enforcement limits the improvement of policy terminology.

Assemblywoman Lim stated, "The destruction of the Korean language has reached a serious level, with many policy names in Seoul and other local governments being in English," adding, "There is a need to revise policy terminology into Korean so that all citizens can easily understand. We are preparing an amendment to the Framework Act on the Korean Language to provide a legal basis for the recommendations of the National Institute of the Korean Language."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.