Cracking the Korean Number System

Korean numbers are kinda… weird. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. That 3조원 development project in 용궁포? Most people learning Korean see that and their brain just stops working. Mine did too for a long time. The thing is, Korean numbers aren’t just different vocabulary for the same system we use in English. Korean speakers actually group digits completely differently.

From 해동일보’s coverage: “용궁포 개발 사업 총 투자 규모가 3조원으로 확정됐다.” “The total investment scale for the 용궁포 development project was confirmed at 3 trillion won.”

When I first started reading Korean financial news, I kept trying to convert everything back to English numbers. See 3조원, think “ok that’s 3 trillion won which is about 2.3 billion dollars which is…” and by that point I’d lost track of what I was reading. Koreans don’t do that conversion. They see 3조원 and think “major government project scale.” The number category tells them the significance level without any math. English speakers group numbers the way we write them. When you see 1,500,000, you think “1 million 500 thousand” because English groups every three digits into a new tier of value. Korean speakers see that same number as “150만”, thinking “one hundred fifty 만, or 150 ‘ten thousands’.” Their mental math operates on completely different building blocks.

This handy little tool shows you both systems simultaneously. The colored backgrounds reveal where Korean speakers naturally break numbers apart, while the familiar commas show the English groupings you’re used to. When the colors don’t align with the commas, that’s your brain getting rewired. Try typing 33,333,333 in the tool above. It looks like thirty-three million to you, but Korean speakers process it as 3333만3333, which is “three thousand three hundred thirty-three ten-thousands, three thousand three hundred thirty-three.” This is a good way to see the groupings – we’re working in groups of 4.

The Pronunciation Secret

Did you notice in the tool above that the 만 place doesn’t show “일” for “1만?”

Korean almost always says just “만” for 10,000, not “일만,” and does so until 20,000, where it changes to “이만.”

That being said, we do say “일억” and “일조” for the bigger tiers – 만 is the special one.

Why We Need Big Numbers

The Korean grouping system is perfect for the amounts that commonly appear in Korean business transactions, seeing as the Korean won has mostly hovered around 1,000원 to 1 US dollar. If you look at it, it’s not actually that hard – the vocabulary of Korean groups numbers by four places into tiers instead of three. English breaks up tiers at thousands, millions, billions, trillions, and so on, up to 3 places, 999 (nine hundred and ninety-nine) before moving up to the next tier. The system doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe 20,000 as 200 hundreds, even though that’s technically correct. We look to the commas to break up the tiers and make numbers much easier to read. Let’s keep working with the number 20,000, but move on to Korean. If you’ve been paying attention, you can probably see an immediate problem – we have to change where the next tier starts. We can start by moving the comma over one place to make it 2,0000 since the thousands place is the highest value of a tier, not its own tier. That means this number is no longer twenty thousand, but two 만. If you’ve ever heard the expression “만세!” (English speakers will probably be more familiar with its imperialist Japanese equivalent “bonzai!”) this expression is meant to say “(may the current dynasty last for) 10,000 years!” These days it’s more commonly used to command someone to “reach for the sky” when posing for photos or playing games with children.

Let’s Compare

Keeping in mind our 4-places rule, this means that each tier can go up to 9999, the 천 value. So when counting 만, we can count up to 9999,9999, which is 9999만 9999원 (9천 9백 9십 9만 9천 9백 9십 9원) (99,999,999원, in writing.) Add one more, and we move up to the next tier: 억. In standard 3-place grouping that English uses, 억 is “100 million”, but you can also think of it as “10 thousand 만” (or 만 만 – see how that works?) 1억 (일억), 10억 (십억), 100억 (백억), 1000억 (천억) all work exactly the same as the 만 tier.

125,003,750,300

1250,0375,0300

천 2백 5십억, 3백 7십 5만, 3백 is the way to read this one. After we take this tier to its limits, we move up into the final tier that matters for pretty much all normal use cases – 조. 조 would be 1만 억, or 10 thousand 100 millions, or 1,000,000,000,000 – one trillion. Feels like a gigantic number – and it is – but, when talking about big projects and government programs, it’s pretty reasonable. 1조원 is valued at about 700 million USD at the time of writing in 2025, though it hovers between there and a billion dollars, so you can safely assume it’s “around a billion” dollars.

Practical Numbers Shortlist

For most things in your everyday life, you’re only going to be dealing with numbers up to the 억 range. 100만 (백만): Salaries, electronics purchases, plane tickets, etc. run in the 1-9 thousand range, generally, which is where you’ll use these numbers. 1000만 (천만): Yearly income, car purchase prices, student loans – this is the 10,000-99,999 USD range. 1억 (일억): This is roughly $100,000 USD, so this is where you tend to see discussions of house prices, 전세 amounts, and most real estate prices in general. 10억 (십억): This is roughly $1 million USD – this number is usually the upper-end of expensive house prices, and where most conversations about money peak. 1조 (일조): 조 is an amount you’ll only see when discussing giant projects costing billions of dollars. Unless you’re throwing billions around, this will only show up in the news, for the most part. The 용궁포 story gives you all these scales to practice with. The 3조원 development budget explains why this small town controversy matters to politicians in Seoul. The 2만개 jobs explain why local residents care so much about the outcome. The 300억원 payout offered to 이동수 is something like 30 million dollars – generational wealth. The juxtaposition of these enormous sums of money against their modest lives should make it clearer why some families support the destruction of their community even though it will change everything about their lives.

Reading Korean Financial Headlines

But the real skill is learning to read these numbers as signals about story significance rather than just quantities to calculate. Korean financial reporting uses numbers as shorthand for impact levels that regular readers recognize automatically. Government megaproject, major regional business, significant local impact, individual household concern. The numbers tell you what kind of story you’re reading and how much attention to pay. This takes practice, but once you start thinking in Korean number categories, financial news becomes much more readable. Plus, these are the same systems used in the rest of East Asia, all thanks to 한자. The 용궁포 development controversy covers every major scale you’ll encounter in Korean news. Government budgets, business investments, community impact, individual wealth. By the time you finish following this story, you’ll have seen how Korean numbers work in context across different types of reporting. The goal isn’t to become fluent in Korean math, but to build an intuitive understanding of the value of different “big numbers” in Korean. This will pay off in tons of different contexts.

Moving Forward with 용궁포

As this controversy develops, you’ll notice how different news sources use these number scales to frame the story differently. Conservative papers might emphasize the 3조원 national investment benefit. Progressive papers might focus on the 2만개 local jobs question. Individual interest stories will highlight the 300억원 personal payouts. Each perspective uses numbers to signal what scale of impact matters most to their argument.