Hanja in Korean newspapers

Although the use of Hanja in Korean newspapers has greatly diminished, a smattering knowledge of Chinese characters is still useful when it comes to deciphering headlines. Especially while reading internet news the headline is the only way to determine whether an article is worth reading or not. To give an example:

<與도 野도 ‘反대기업’>“마녀사냥식 대기업 죽이기 우려”


與 and 野 are probably the most common Chinese characters appearing in the political news section of Korean newspapers. 與 refers to the ruling party, while 野 refers to the opposition party. 反 means "to be against something".

Here are some of the most useful Hanja to know:

Hanja	general meaning	usual meaning in newspapers
與	to take part	the ruling party
野	field	the parlamentary opposition
靑	blue	the Blue House
軍	military	the military
檢	to investigate	prosecution, prosecutors office, SPO
訴	to blame	lawsuit
北	North	North Korea
中	middle, China	China
南	South	South Korea
伊	this, that, he, she	Italy
豪	hero	Australia
佛	Buddha	France
美	beautiful, USA	USA
日	the sun, Japan	Japan
獨	alone	Germany
加	to add	Canada
故	old, dead	the late “name of person”, somebody who is deceased