South and North Korean lexicographers met at a scenic resort on the North’s east coast Monday to discuss details over an ongoing project to publish a joint dictionary of their language, the Unification Ministry said.
A group of 38 South Korean experts visited Mount Kumgang earlier in the day to hold eight-day talks with their North Korean counterparts over the contents of the dictionary, the ministry said.
The joint dictionary project has been pursued in order to preserve Korea’s cultural assets and bridge the language gap between the Koreas. The dictionary will contain around 330,000 words.
The project, which started in 2006, was suspended in 2010 due to the strained relations between Seoul and Pyongyang. The two sides resumed the project in July with an aim to complete it by 2019.
The two Koreas speak the same Korean language, but the gap between their daily uses of words has grown since they were divided 70 years ago and the influx of foreign languages into the South has increased.
The ministry said in May that it will promote more civilian inter-Korean exchanges as this year marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)
