Korean Morse uses SKATS: the Standard Korean Alphabet Transliteration System: to encode Hangul jamo (consonants and vowels) as Morse. Each jamo gets a unique Morse pattern, allowing Hangul syllables to be transmitted by sending each component letter.
Korean Morse was developed in the early 20th century during the Japanese occupation period and standardized after Korean independence. SKATS became the definitive system for Hangul Morse in the 1960s.
South Korean amateur radio (HL-prefix) and the Republic of Korea military both teach Korean Morse for Hangul-language transmissions. North Korean military communications also use a Hangul-Morse system, with some local variations.
Each syllable block (e.g., 한) is decomposed into its component jamo (ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ) and each jamo is sent as its Morse code in order. The reader reassembles the syllable on the receiving end.
SKATS is the underlying transliteration scheme. Korean Morse applies SKATS to Morse code by assigning each transliterated jamo a Morse pattern. In practice the terms are used interchangeably.
South Korean ham radio for Hangul-language QSOs, the ROK military for legacy comms training, and as a curiosity in Korean scouting and computing-history education.
Explore all Morse code variants → Morse Code Variants Around the World
