Korean (South Korean: 한국어, hangugeo; North Korean: 조선말, chosŏnmal) is the native

language for about 81.7 million people, mostly of Korean descent.[a][2] It is

the official and national language of both South Korea and North Korea. The two countries
have established standardized norms for Korean, and the differences between them are
similar to those between Standard Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan, but political
conflicts between the two countries have highlighted the differences between them. South
Korean newspaper Daily NK has claimed North Korea criminalizes the use of the South's
standard language with the death penalty,[3] and South Korean education and media often
portray the North's language as alien and uncomfortable.[4]

Beyond Korea, the language is recognised as a minority language in parts of China,

namely Jilin Province, and specifically Yanbian Prefecture, and Changbai County. It is also
spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin, the Russian island just north of Japan, and
by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia.[5] The language has a few extinct relatives which
—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form the
compact Koreanic language family. Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible.
The linguistic homeland of Korean is suggested to be somewhere in
contemporary Manchuria.[5] The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates
deeply influences the language, leading to a system