Korean units of measurement, called ''cheokgwan-beop'' () or ''cheokgeun-beop'' () in Korean, is the
traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
system of measurement used by the people of the
Korean peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. It is largely based on the
Chinese system, with influence from
Japanese standards imposed following
its annexation of the
Korean Empire in 1910. Both
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
currently employ the
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
. Since 2007, South Korea has criminalized the use of Korean units in commercial contexts but informal use continues, especially of the ''
pyeong
A ''pyeong'' (abbreviationpy) is a Korean unit of area and floorspace, equal to a square '' kan'' or 36square Korean feet. The ''ping'' and ''tsubo'' are its equivalent Taiwanese and Japanese units, similarly based on a square '' bu'' ( ja: ...
'' as a measure of residential and commercial floorspace. North Korea continues to use the traditional units, although their standards are now derived from metric conversions.
History
Ancient Korea
Customary Korean units are a local adaption of the
traditional Chinese system, which was adopted at a very early date. They were imposed and adjusted at various times by royal statutes. The details of the system have varied over time and location in Korea's history. Standardization—to the extent it occurred—was accomplished by officially sanctioned rulers, ropes,
odometers,
triangulation devices, weights, cups, and basins.
Although most of the measures operate on a
decimal system, the standard form was to read out the units of each place (as, e.g., 3''cheok'', 1''chon'', 4''bun'', 1''ri'') rather than list them as a single number of the largest unit (as 3.141''cheok'').
Joseon Kingdom
Yi Dan established a Market Bureau (, ) or Bureau of Weights and Measures (, ) at the foundation of the
Joseon dynasty
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...
in 1392. The
Joseon Kingdom
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
later attempted a standardization of length based on square brass rulers, which were used by
magistrates
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
and the
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...
to fight commercial fraud. Under the
Joseon, different classes of society were permitted different numbers of ''
kan'' in their homes, but in its traditional sense—like the Japanese ''
ken
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine.
* Ken Masters, a main character in ...
''—of a
bay between two
pillar
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
s rather than as a set unit of length.
The 1496 Great Codex of State Administration (''Kyŏngguk Taejŏn'') included a section on approved measures and their verification. It employed a
li of 360paces or 2160feet, but did not explicitly mention that conversion until its 1746 supplement.
The 1897 Law on Weights and Measures uniting Korea's various local systems was the first legislation enacted upon the Joseon's establishment of the
Korean Empire.
Japanese Chōsen
During the Japanese
occupation from 1910 to 1945, Japan imposed
its standards on Korea. Two of the most common "traditional" units in Korea—the ''pyeong'' of
floorspace
In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
and the jeweler's ''don''—were among those given their modern value by the Japanese.
South Korea
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
signed the
Metre Convention
The Metre Convention (french: link=no, Convention du Mètre), also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations (Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazi ...
in 1959
[ and notionally adopted the metric system under Park Chung-hee on 10 May 1961, with a strict law banning the use of the Korean pound, li, ''gwan'', and ''don''][ effective as of 1 January 1964 and—after metric conversion of the land registries—the ''pyeong''. The metrication was not applied to imported or exported goods and remained so generally spotty as to be considered a failure, with the government abandoning its attempts to enforce the statute by 1970. The traditional units feature in many ]Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
sayings and much of its literature and poetry, including the national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
, which mentions Korea's "three thousand lis of rivers and mountains". Further attempts to fully metricate occurred in 1983,[ 2000, and 2001, with publicity campaigns praising the ]metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
and condemning traditional units through TV and radio ads, brochures, signs, and contests. A common theme was the origin of the present values of the units under Japanese occupation; Yun Byeong-su of the Korea Association of Standards & Testing Organizations
The Korea Association of Standards and Testing Organizations (KASTO) is an association of the standards and testing organizations of South Korea.
History
The KASTO was established in 1979 to ensure efficient operation of the national calibration ...
noted that "even Japan has forsaken the ''don'' for the units of grams and ounces but here we are standing around like idiots still blathering on about ''don''." Nonetheless, strong opposition from the construction and jewelry industries and negative media coverage forced Korean politicians to avoid the topic and regulators to settle for dual use of conventional and metric measures.
A 2006 study found 88% of real estate companies and 71% of jewelers in 7 major markets were still using the ''pyeong'' and ''don'', after which the government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
decided simply to criminalize further commercial use of traditional units. (Another important factor was the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
regulation mandating the use of metric in all imported goods by 2010.) The sale of ruler
A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines.
Variants
Rulers have long ...
s marking Korean feet was ended and a Measure Act effective 1 July 2007 empowered the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards
Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) is the government standards organization for South Korea. It is part of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
It is authorized to regulate and manage the legal measures of South Korea by the current ...
[ of the ]Ministry of Commerce A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce.
Notable examples are:
List
*Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...
to begin immediately levying fines of up to ₩
The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won.
Appearance
Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...
500,000 for commercial use of the ''pyeong'' and ''don'', with less common units enjoying a longer grace period
A grace period is a period immediately after the deadline for an obligation during which a late fee, or other action that would have been taken as a result of failing to meet the deadline, is waived provided that the obligation is satisfied durin ...
. The ban also included use of American units, such as describing the display size
On 2D displays, such as computer monitors and TVs, the display size (or viewable image size or VIS) is the physical size of the area where pictures and videos are displayed. The size of a screen is usually described by the length of its diago ...
of televisions and computer monitors in terms of inches.[ The "serving size" used as an informal and variable measure of meat cuts was standardized to 100g. Knowledge of the fine remained low for years, and it was later increased to a maximum of ]₩
The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won.
Appearance
Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...
1,000,000 (about $800) for users of illegal units and ₩
The won sign , is a currency symbol. It represents the South Korean won, the North Korean won and, unofficially, the old Korean won.
Appearance
Its appearance is "W" (the first letter of "Won") with a horizontal strike going through the cent ...
3,000,000 for sellers of measuring devices marked with unapproved units.[.] South Korea's measurement standards are now maintained by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science
The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is the national measurement standards laboratory for the Republic of Korea. It is a government-funded institute responsible for providing national measurement standards and advancing m ...
.[
Despite this strong official discouragement, some use continues in retail, manufacturing, and farming. Even among those who have adopted metric units, informal use of awkward metric fractions equivalent to round amounts of the former units is common, especially with regard to the very common ''pyeong'' of ]floorspace
In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
.[ (Such treatment was avoided in the gold market by laws requiring pricing and denomination in even amounts of grams.) Another dodge has been to treat the traditional units as a nondescript 'unit', such as marketing an air conditioner appropriate for a 20py home as a "20-Type".][.]
North Korea
Despite the importance of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in establishing North Korea, Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
continued official use of Korean units until the DPRK's notional metrication
Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional units of measurement to the metric system. This process began in ...
under National Standard 4077-75 in 14 April 1975.[.] It joined the Meter Treaty in 1982[.] or 1989, although it was removed from the International Bureau for Weights and Measures and related organizations in 2012 for its years of failure to pay the necessary fees. North Korea has long used the metric system in its state-run media and international publications, but continues to use traditional units alongside the metric system in sectors approved by the government. North Korea's standards are administered by the Central Institute of Metrology[ under the State Administration of Quality Management in accordance with the Law on Metrology ratified by the Supreme People's Assembly on 3 February 1993. North Korea uses the ''pyeong'' in various regulations, such as the 50py per person allowed for private farming in 1987, despite guides who disparage the unit as a historical relic of the South to foreign tourists visiting the country. The metric system is thought not to have spread to domestic factories or stores prior to Kim Jong-un's metrification initiative, announced in May 2013. The change was part of Kim's policy of stressing the importance of science and technology and its "universal trends". His announcement in the state-run quarterly ''Cultural Language Study'' said that increasing use of the metric system would "strengthen international exchange and cooperation... in the fields of industry, science, and technology and even in the area of general social life".
]
Length
The base unit of Korean length is the foot, with other units changing over time based on its dimensions and multiples. Different ancient Korean kingdoms had different exact measurements; that of Sejong the Great (.1418–1450) was 31.22cm. Under the early Joseon Kingdom
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
, the value of the foot varied by trade, with different lengths used for the carpentry foot and the fabric foot.
The biggest difference between the traditional Korean and Chinese units of length is that the Korean equivalent of the '' bu'' uses a different character and its pre-Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
composition of six Korean feet rather than five. (The ''bu'' was usually treated as a synonym of this unit within Korea but sometimes distinguished as a length of 4feet). In 369 CE, during the reign of King Geunchogo of Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.
Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...
, his realm seems to have used a foot of about 28.85cm.
The Korean li previously bore values around 434.16m (3rd century), 531.18m (6th–7th), 559.8m (7th–10th), 552.96m (10th–14th),[ and 450m (19th);][.] it was also reckoned based on travel time and therefore varied in length between the plains and mountains.[ It was standardized as of the Japanese ri of in 1905.][.]
Area
The base unit of Korean area is the ''pyeong'', equivalent to a square ''kan'' or 36 square Korean feet. It comprised about 3.158m2 during Korea's Three Kingdoms Era; the present value derives from the units established by the Japanese. Despite being notionally illegal, the ''pyeong'' remains particularly common when discussing residential and commercial floorspace
In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
[ and tiles.][ A separate ''pyeong'' of 0.09m2 was used for selling glass. The floorspace ''pyeong'' is still prevalent enough that it continues to be glossed in the government's promotional material for foreign investors.
Farms and large estates were formerly generally measured in ''majigi'', which is notionally not based on multiples of the ''pyeong'' but on the amount of land suitable for the planting of one ''mall'' of rice or grain seed.][.] In practice, it was standardized to the ''pyeong'' system but varied in size from province to province based on the average richness of their soil.
Weight
The base unit of Korean weight is the ''gwan''. At the time of Korea's metrification, however, the pound was in more common use. Although it was usually taken as equivalent to 600g, as with red pepper and meats, a separate pound of 400g was used for fruits and another of 375 or 200g was used for vegetables. The ''nyang'' also sees some use among Korea's vendors of traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
.[.]
The "bag" (''kama'') was a variable unit usually figured as 54kg of unhusked rice or 60kg of polished rice, although 90kg "bags" were also used.[
]
Volume
The base unit of Korean volume or capacity is the ''doi''.
In 3rd-century Gaya, the ''mal'' was reckoned at about 2L, the size of the present-day ''doe''. In the early 17th century, the Joseon picul was reckoned as 15 or 20 ''mal'', but similarly only comprised 89.464 or 119.285L owing to the smaller size of the ''mal'' at that time.
The United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
also reported a "small mal" half the size of the standard ''mal''.[ In contexts involving volume, two cubic forms of "pyeong" were also formerly used. The pyeong of gravel was a cubic ''gan'' (about 6.01m3);][ the pyeong of firewood was as much (about2.0035m3).][ Palais reports alternate ''seoks'' of 15 and 20 ''mal'' each.
]
See also
* Metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
* Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
, Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, Mongolian and Vietnamese units of measurement Vietnamese units of measurement ( vi, hệ đo lường Việt Nam) are the largely decimal units of measurement traditionally used in Vietnam until metrication. The base unit of length is the ''thước'' (chữ Nôm: 𡱩; lit. "ruler") or ''xích ...
* Korean units of currency
* KATS, KSA
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
, KRISS, & KASTO
The Korea Association of Standards and Testing Organizations (KASTO) is an association of the standards and testing organizations of South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting th ...
, South Korean standards organizations
* CIM & SAQM, North Korean standards organizations
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
An automatic converter for metric and customary US and Korean units
{{Metrication
Customary units of measurement
Units
Unit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''
* Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation
Music
* Unit (album), ...
Systems of units
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...