Why is Germany 독일, not 독국?

Country names are designed to approximate the sound of the original names, though some names may also reflect historical influences or traditional usage.

Initially, in 1882, Germany was referred to as 덕국 (德國) following the Chinese practice. China had initially used 德意志 (덕의지) which sounds similar to "Deutsch" and this eventually evolved into 德國 (덕국).

During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese system was adopted. Japanese Kanji 獨逸 [도이쯔] for "Deutsch" was adopted. However, the pronunciation of 獨逸 is [독일] in Korean. To this day, Koreans use 독일, which neither sounds like nor means "Deutschland" or "Germany".