Kim or Gim (Hangul: 김) is the most common surname in Korea. As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were 10,689,959 people by this name in South Korea or 21.5% of the population. Kim is written as 김 (gim) in both North and South Korea. The hanja for Kim, 金 can also be transliterated as 금 (geum) which means "metal, iron, gold". The academic community is divided as to why 金 is not read as 금 in the case of surname and why it is read as 김 instead. The Kim family is also the ruling family in North Korea.