인민

Korean

Sino-Korean word from 人民 (“the people [of a country], citizens”).

Romanizations
Revised Romanization^?	inmin
Revised Romanization (translit.)^?	inmin
McCune–Reischauer^?	inmin
Yale Romanization^?	inmin

인민 • (inmin) (hanja 人民)

(nowadays chiefly North Korea or of communist countries) the people (of a country), citizens, citizenry
- c. 1750, 정언유/鄭彦儒, 탐라별곡/耽羅別曲 [Song of Tamna]:
  耽(탐)羅(라) 녯 都(도)邑(읍)이 몇 千(쳔) 年(년) 基(긔)業(업)인고 / 星(셩)主(쥬) 王(왕)子(ᄌᆞ) 디난 후 의 物(믈)換(환)星(셩)移(이) 오ᄅᆡ거다 / 城(셩)郭(곽)이 곳치시니 人(인)民(민)인들 녯 ᄀᆞᆺ탈손가
  Tamna nyet do'eub-i myeotchyeon nyeon guieob-in'go / syeongjyu wangja dinan hu-ui meulhwansyeong'i oraegeoda / syeonggwag-i gotchisini inmin-indeul nyet gat'talson'ga
  How many millennia of kingship was at the old capital of Tamna? [But] the star-lords and kinglings passed by, and the stars have shifted their positions long ago. Since [even] the towns have been built anew, how could the people remain unchanged?

This was neutral and common in Korean before the country was forcibly divided in 1945, but has now fallen out of mainstream use in South Korea due to the importance of the word in North Korean ideology.