본부장 (bonbujang) — Above 부장님 (bujang-nim), But Where Exactly?
본부장
본부장 (bonbujang) means the person who takes charge of and leads a 본부 (bonbu) — an organizational unit that bundles several departments into one — or the job title used for that person. Watch enough Korean dramas and you’ll spot them: the one sitting alone in an office walled with glass, the one whose entrance makes everyone in the meeting room scramble to their feet, the one who accepts exactly one drink at the company dinner and then leaves early. English subtitles usually render it as “director” or “head of division,” but what actually comes out of the actors’ mouths is always the same thing: “본부장님 (bonbujang-nim).”
Job titles are unusually tricky for Korean learners. Memorizing the word itself is the easy part; the moment that word gets used as a form of address, another rule attaches to it. In a Korean company, you don’t call people by their names. You call them by their positions. So knowing this word doesn’t mean knowing what it means — it means knowing what to call the person.
‘본부 (bonbu, 本部)’ is a higher-level unit that bundles several departments together. People gather into a 팀 (tim, team), teams gather into a 부 (bu, department), and a few 부 together make a 본부. So a 본부장 is looking at a wider board than a 부장 (bujang). The rough ladder in a Korean company goes like this — 사원 (sawon) → 대리 (daeri) → 과장 (gwajang) → 차장 (chajang) → 부장 (bujang) → 본부장 (bonbujang) → 임원 (imwon, executives: 상무·전무·부사장) → 사장 (sajang)·대표 (daepyo). That said, this isn’t an absolute order. At some companies the 본부장 is an executive; at others, one of the 부장-level managers takes on the 본부장 role. There’s really only one instinct a learner needs to lock in: above 부장님 (bujang-nim), below 사장님 (sajang-nim).
The nuance is decision-making power. When this word comes up in an office, work either stops or starts rolling. 본부장님 결재 났어? (Bonbujang-nim gyeoljae nasseo?) — “Did the 본부장 sign off on it?” That one line can rearrange the whole team’s afternoon. So 본부장 is a neutral noun and a heavy word at the same time. It isn’t a position you toss around lightly.
Let’s also sort out the rules for using it as a form of address up front. To their face, 본부장님 (bonbujang-nim). Talking about them to a third party, still with 님: 본부장님이 (bonbujang-nimi). But when you introduce yourself, you drop the 님 — 본부장입니다 (bonbujang-imnida). On business cards and documents it goes in front of the name, as in ‘영업본부 본부장 김준경 (Yeongeop-bonbu bonbujang Gim Jun-gyeong)’. The fact that these four slots each behave differently is the heart of this word.
See It in Real Conversation
Scene: the first-floor lobby of a client’s building. Five minutes before the meeting, waiting for the elevator and getting business cards ready.
Jun-kyung: 잠깐, 오늘 누구 들어오는지 봤어? 팀장님만 오시는 거 아니래. Wait, did you check who’s coming today? Apparently it’s not just the team lead.
Emily: 응, 아까 메일 왔더라. 본부장님도 들어오신대. Yeah, an email came earlier. The division head is coming too.
Jun-kyung: 헐, 진짜? 그럼 자료 순서 바꿔야겠는데. Whoa, seriously? Then we should reorder the deck.
Emily: 야, 근데 나 아직도 헷갈려. 본부장이 부장님보다 위야? Hey, but I still get confused. Is a bonbujang above a bujang?
Jun-kyung: 위지. 부서 몇 개를 통째로 맡는 자리야. 그냥 “본부장님” 하고 부르면 돼. Above, yeah. It’s the seat that runs several departments at once. Just call him “bonbujang-nim.”
Emily: 아, 이름은 안 붙이고? 오케이, 외웠다. Ah, without the name? Okay, got it.
This Sounds Awkward
✗ (speaking to the 본부장 in person) 김준경 본부장, 이 자료 확인 부탁드립니다. (Gim Jun-gyeong bonbujang, i jaryo hwagin butakdeurimnida.) ✓ (speaking to the 본부장 in person) 본부장님, 이 자료 확인 부탁드립니다. (Bonbujang-nim, i jaryo hwagin butakdeurimnida.) → ‘Name + title’ is the format for writing on a document or introducing someone to a third party. Used to a person’s face, it takes on the tone of a superior summoning a subordinate, so the hierarchy sounds flipped. When you’re looking someone in the eye, drop the name and attach ‘-님 (-nim)’.
✗ (answering the phone) 네, 제가 본부장님입니다. (Ne, jega bonbujang-nimimnida.) ✓ (answering the phone) 네, 제가 본부장입니다. (Ne, jega bonbujang-imnida.) → Attaching ‘-님’ to your own title means elevating yourself. In Korean, honorifics are for the other person only. In a self-introduction, the ‘님’ always comes off.
Example Sentences by Situation
1. Setting up a meeting
본부장님 일정부터 잡고 나머지를 맞추죠. (Bonbujang-nim iljeongbuteo japgo nameojireul matchujyo.) Let’s lock in the 본부장’s schedule first and fit the rest around it.
When coordinating several people’s time, a Korean company fixes the most senior person’s schedule first and slots everyone else in around it. This sentence lays that order out exactly as it is. A learner who uses it naturally comes across as “someone who understands how companies here work.”
2. Passing along news of a promotion
이번에 최 부장님이 본부장으로 올라가셨대. (Ibeone Choe bujang-nimi bonbujang-euro ollagasyeottae.) I hear 최 부장님 (Choe bujang-nim) moved up to 본부장 this time.
This is colleagues trading news in 반말 (banmal, casual speech). ‘올라가다 (ollagada)’, literally “to go up,” is an extremely common colloquial way to say “get promoted,” and the ending ‘-대 (-dae)’ is what you use to relay something you heard. The reason there’s no ‘님’ after 본부장 here is that the title isn’t working as a form of address — it’s a plain noun naming the position they arrived at.
3. Introducing yourself while handing over a business card
영업본부 본부장 김준경입니다. (Yeongeop-bonbu bonbujang Gim Jun-gyeong-imnida.) I’m Kim Jun-kyung, head of the Sales Division.
The order is the name of your 본부 → your title → your name. Korean self-introductions narrow from the big unit down to the small one — the same order you’d use to say an address. And here, too, ‘님’ is never attached.
존댓말 (jondaenmal), 반말 (banmal), and Similar Expressions
With this word, the difference between 존댓말 (jondaenmal, polite speech) and 반말 (banmal, casual speech) shows up first not in the verb ending but in whether ‘님 (-nim)’ is there. To their face, it’s ‘본부장님 (bonbujang-nim)’ without exception; talking about them to a friend, something like ‘우리 본부장 (uri bonbujang)’ — “my 본부장” — works fine. Line the word up next to similar titles and the weight of the position comes into focus.
| Expression | Tone & weight | Where it’s used |
|---|---|---|
| 팀장 (timjang) | Closest and most hands-on | Your direct boss, the one you see every day. Commonly used outside work too |
| 부장 (bujang) | The weight of a single department | Manages several teams. The go-to title for the “old-school boss” character in dramas |
| 본부장 (bonbujang) | Weight backed by decision-making power | Head of a 본부 that bundles several departments. The final gate for meetings and approvals |
| 대표 (daepyo) | The name of the whole organization | The position that represents the company to the outside world. Especially common at small companies |
Cultural Background — The Chaebol Heir’s First Job Title in K-Dramas
The word-building is transparent. In 본부 (本部), ‘본 (本)’ means root or main and ‘부 (部)’ means department, and 장 (長) means head or chief. So: “a large unit made of several departments + the head of it.” This ‘-장 (-jang)’ is frighteningly productive in Korean — 팀장 (timjang), 부장 (bujang), 사장 (sajang), 회장 (hoejang), 반장 (banjang), 역장 (yeokjang), 관장 (gwanjang) are all built the same way. Meet a new word and, if you know the front half, the back half calculates itself.
There’s a reason this title turns up so often in dramas. It’s a long-standing K-drama cliché that when the son or daughter of a chaebol family joins the company, the first title they’re handed is 본부장. Why that one? Start them as 사장 (sajang) or 회장 (hoejang) and their seat overlaps with the father’s generation, so no conflict can be built. Start them as 대리 (daeri) or 과장 (gwajang) and they have no decision-making power, so the story can’t get rolling. 본부장 sits precisely in between — enough power to shake a large organization, yet still a position that has to send approvals upstairs. From a writer’s point of view, it’s the perfect altitude for manufacturing conflict.
Meanwhile, in works that depict real workplaces realistically, this ladder itself becomes the backbone of the story. The drama Misaeng (《미생》, tvN, 2014) is the classic example of a show that made the 사원–대리–과장–차장–부장 rank system familiar not only to Koreans but to viewers overseas. In a Korean company, rank isn’t a simple label — it’s the grammar that determines who speaks first, who stands up first, and who signs off last.
So there’s one more thing a Korean learner gains from really absorbing this word. When the meeting room door opens, you’ll know who to greet — before you’ve read the subtitles.
Today’s Quiz
You’re about to speak directly to the 본부장 who has just walked into the meeting room. What’s the most natural thing to put in the blank?
”______, 자료 준비됐습니다.”
① 김준경 본부장 (Gim Jun-gyeong bonbujang) ② 본부장님 (bonbujang-nim) ③ 제가 본부장님입니다 (jega bonbujang-nimimnida) ④ 본부장 (bonbujang)
Answer: ②
When you’re addressing someone face to face, you drop the name and attach only ‘-님’ to the title. ① is the format for documents or introductions, so using it in person makes the hierarchy sound flipped; ③ elevates yourself, so it doesn’t hold up at all. ④ leaves off the ‘님’, which makes it sound like 반말 (banmal). In a Korean office, the safe answer is always one thing: 본부장님 (bonbujang-nim).
Definitions and example sentences are from the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr); that portion of this post, including our translations, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.