What does 내로남불 (naeronambul) mean? How a 1984 student joke ended up in The New York Times

Our editor once scolded a colleague for being five minutes late to a meeting. The next day, the editor was seven minutes late — and blamed the elevator. The colleague said nothing, just sent four syllables over the work messenger: “내로남불.” There was no comeback. That's why these four syllables have lasted more than 40 years.

1. 1984

   A student joke

   According to CBS Nocut News, an article in the May 1984 issue of the monthly Christian Thought quoted a student joke: “When I date, it's romance; when others date, it's a scandal.” It's among the earliest records found. Back then the punchline was “scandal,” not “affair.”

2. 1987

   Into fiction

   Novelist Yi Mun-yol put a line to the same effect in his short story “Guro Arirang” (Nocut News). In 1993 a book came out titled, roughly, “Scandal When Others Do It, Romance When I Do.”

3. 1996

   On the Assembly floor (as the story goes)

   One account holds that on June 12, 1996, New Korea Party lawmaker Park Hee-tae, criticizing the opposition in a plenary session, said “if I cheat it's romance, if others do it's an affair,” and that heavy coverage made the phrase mainstream. Nocut News presents this as one account, not settled fact.

4. Dec 2020

   Idiom of the year

   Kyosu Shinmun surveyed 906 professors, and 32.4% chose 아시타비 (我是他非) — a coined Sino-Korean rendering of 내로남불 — as 2020's idiom of the year (reported by Asia Economy). It was the first time a newly coined term won, which set off a debate over whether it even counts as a classical idiom.

5. Apr 2021

   An election ruling, and The New York Times

   Ahead of the April 7 by-elections, the National Election Commission ruled that the People Power Party couldn't use the get-out-the-vote slogan “Voting beats 내로남불,” saying it would bring a specific party to mind (Seoul Shinmun). After the vote, The New York Times explained the ruling party's defeat using the romanized word “naeronambul” (Kyeonggi Ilbo).

6. 2022–2023

   Different side, same word

   After the change of government, the word stayed. In April 2022 Democratic lawmaker Park Yong-jin said People Power Party lawmakers' silence over a minister nominee's controversy was “exactly 내로남불” (Newsis), and in June 2023 a People Power Party spokesperson said the Democrats had closed ranks in a “내로남불 shield” after an arrest-consent vote failed (OhmyNews).

You'll see it most in political news, but it started as a joke about dating, and it works in everyday life just the same. In a 2020 column for the Journalists Association of Korea, political commentator Kim Min-ha argued that because the label makes hypocrisy so easy to attack, it can push debate away from whether a policy is right and toward a person's morals — feeding political cynicism. That's also why a charge of 내로남불 is often met with the comeback that it's 억까, bad-faith bashing. Used without evidence, it's a label, not a critique.

• 본인은 지각해 놓고 나한테만 뭐라 하네. 완전 내로남불이다They were late themselves and they're scolding me. Total 내로남불.Work chat, somewhere between five and seven minutes
• 내 연애는 운명이고 네 연애는 금사빠라고? 내로남불 아니야?My relationship is fate and yours is falling too fast? Isn't that 내로남불?Between friends — closest to the original use
• 야당일 땐 반대하던 법을 여당 되니까 밀어붙인다며 내로남불 비판이 나왔다Critics called it 내로남불, saying the party is pushing a bill it opposed while in opposition.A sentence pattern common in political news
• 애들한테는 폰 그만 보라면서 아빠는 식탁에서 유튜브 보잖아. 내로남불!You tell us to get off our phones, Dad, but you watch YouTube at the table. 내로남불!The dinner table

So 내로남불 is a word that has changed hands for 40 years. Whoever uses it, it aims at the same target: someone applying a different ruler to the same thing. Our editor no longer blames the elevator — and now leaves five minutes early. If you have a sharper definition, add it to the 내로남불 entry in the dictionary.