월북

Korean

Etymology

Sino-Korean word from 越 (“cross over, go to”) + 北 (“north”).

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [wʌ̹ɭbuk̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [월북]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	wolbuk
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	wolbug
McCune–Reischauer?	wŏlbuk
Yale Romanization?	wel.puk

Noun

월북 • (wolbuk) (hanja 越北)

1. going north over the border; defecting to North Korea

   Antonym: 월남(越南) (wollam)

2. (specifically) a group of Korean writers who moved from the US-occupied South Korea to the Soviet-occupied North Korea after the separation in 1945

Derived terms

• 월북하다 (wolbukhada)