We can compare numbers in South Korea with the UK (not Europe which has a different way to address 1 million as seen in the Numberphile youtube video called “How big is a billion?”) and we can see that numbers are done in a different way.
| Arabic number | English interpretation | Roman alphabet of Korean | Hangeul | Direct interpretation from Korean |
| 10 | Ten | Shib | 십 | ten |
| 100 | One hundred | Bek | 백 | One hundred |
| 1000 | One thousand | Cheon | 천 | One thousand |
| 10,000 | Ten thousand | Man | 만 | Ten thousand |
| 100,000 | One hundred thousand | Shib Man | 십만 | Ten ten thousand |
| 1,000,000 | One million | Bek Man | 백만 | One hundred ten thousand |
| 10,000,000 | Ten million | Cheon Man | 천만 | One thousand ten thousand |
| 100,000,000 | One hundred thousand | Eok | 억 | One hundred million |
| 1,000,000,000 | One billion | Shib Eok | 십억 | Ten One hundred million |
| 10,000,000,000 | Ten billion | Bek Eok | 백억 | One hundred One hundred million |
| 100,000,000,000 | One hundred billion | Cheon Eok | 천억 | One thousand one hundred million |
| 1,000,000,000,000 | One Trillion | Jo (cho) | 조 | One trillion |
If you analyse the table above, Korean numbers do not use a word for 1 million. The next number with a new word after 1000 (천) is 10,000 which is Man (만) or 10^4. Then, after that, the next change is 100,000,000 which is Eok (억). So there is no 1 million if you use direct translation from the Korean. In addition, there is no 1 billion either. However, there is a 1 trillion. We could also add another column to see what powers of 10 they are. I will add this below.
| Arabic number | English interpretation | Roman alphabet of Korean | Hangeul | Direct interpretation from Korean | |
| 10 | Ten | Shib | 십 | ten | 10^1 |
| 100 | One hundred | Bek | 백 | One hundred | 10^2 |
| 1000 | One thousand | Cheon | 천 | One thousand | 10^3 |
| 10,000 | Ten thousand | Man | 만 | Ten thousand | 10^4 |
| 100,000 | One hundred thousand | Shib Man | 십만 | Ten ten thousand | 10^5 |
| 1,000,000 | One million | Bek Man | 백만 | One hundred ten thousand | 10^6 |
| 10,000,000 | Ten million | Cheon Man | 천만 | One thousand ten thousand | 10^7 |
| 100,000,000 | One hundred thousand | Eok | 억 | One hundred million | 10^8 |
| 1,000,000,000 | One billion | Shib Eok | 십억 | Ten One hundred million | 10^9 |
| 10,000,000,000 | Ten billion | Bek Eok | 백억 | One hundred One hundred million | 10^10 |
| 100,000,000,000 | One hundred billion | Cheon Eok | 천억 | One thousand one hundred million | 10^11 |
| 1,000,000,000,000 | One Trillion | Jo (cho) | 조 | One trillion | 10^12 |
We can see from this table that new words for numbers are 10^1, 10^2, 10^3, and 10^4. After that, each power is added by 4. So 10^8 and 10^12 are both new words for numbers as they increase. This is as far as it goes for me. Perhaps someone knows of the number for 10^16. It looks like after using one thousand of something, they have to have a new word for a number (e.g. after one thousand one hundred million is the new word Jo (조)).
Korea In Numbers 