The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of Korean Language said on the 25th they reviewed the Foreign Ministry’s request to change the Korean spelling of Mongolia’s capital and decided to revise it from “Ulaanbaatar” written as “Ulan Bator” in Korean to “Ulaanbaatar.”
The capital’s name has long been written in Korean by convention as “Ulan Bator (Ulan Bator).” Officials said that form reflects a Russian-language spelling and differs from local Mongolian spelling and pronunciation, creating administrative inconvenience.
To address confusion in the field, the ministry and the institute convened the “2026 First National Institute of Korean Language Committee on Foreign Proper Names” and decided the standard Korean rendering should follow “Ulaanbaatar (Ulaanbaatar).”
A Foreign Ministry official said Mongolia had asked South Korea to change the spelling “in consideration of the close relationship between the two countries,” adding that public inquiries had continued because of the confusion. The official said the ministry welcomed the decision and expected it to contribute to “future-oriented” ties and to expanding friendly perceptions between the two peoples.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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