Understanding Everyday Life in Korea

I. Greeting Manners
1. How do Koreans greet strangers for the first time?
2. Why is it rude to call older people by their names?
3. Why do Koreans ask personal questions to people they hardly know or meet for the first time?
4. When people meet their acquaintance by chance, why do they usually ask “where are you going?”

II. Social Relationship
5. What is jeong that Koreans often talk about?
6. Why is the meaning of “yes” and “no” unclear in Korea?
7. Why do Koreans share their glass with each other while drinking?
8. Why do Koreans call their spouses ‘our’ husband or ‘our’ wife?
9. What is sogae-ting?
10. Why do Korean female students hold hands or link arms with each other when walking together?
11. Why don’t Koreans knock on the door?
12. Why do Koreans prepare an enormous amount of food and tell their guests to eat more?

III. Koreans
13. Why do Koreans seem quiet and reticent?
14. Why are Korean people so reluctant to wait in line?
15. Why do Korean women care so much about their appearance?
16. Why do Korean women wear strong and vivid colors?
17. Why do Korean women smoke in the toilet?
18. Who is ajumma?
19. Why do Korean men like to be called oppa?
20. Don’t Korean men need to serve the military when the two Koreas unify?
21. What age does one become a grandfather or a grandmother?
22. Why do Koreans seem to prefer squatting over sitting even outside their homes?
23. Why do Koreans fight for the bill in restaurants?
24. Why do Koreans feel uncomfortable eating out alone?
25. Why do Koreans rarely apologize when they bump into each other on the street?

IV. Study & Work
26. Why do high school seniors have dinner at their schools?
27. Why are Korean parents so obsessed with their child’s education?
28. Why do companies allow workers to come late on the day when the College Scholastic Ability Test is being held in high schools?
29. Koreans work without taking any breaks. Why do Koreans live such a hectic life?
30. Why do Koreans like using seals more than signatures in legal documents?

V. Transportation
31. Why do people sitting in a bus or on the subway hold bags for those without seats?
32. Why do people yield their seats to elders on a bus or train?
33. Why are Korean bus drivers so aggressive? Why don’t they follow the traffic rules?
34. Why are there so many black cars in Korea?

VI. Entertainment
35. Why do Koreans enjoy going to a noraebang after drinking?
36. Why do Korean films become so popular?
37. Why are Korean soap operas mostly about family issues?
38. Why do Koreans like to go to a jjimjilbang just to lie on the floor?

VII. Korean Food & Dining
39. Why do Koreans mix rice?
40. Why do people say that Koreans cannot live without kimchi?
41. Why do Koreans say they feel “siwonhada” (cool) when eating hot pepper broths?
42. Why do Koreans use spoons and chopsticks made out of metal?
43. Why are udon and japchae served in Chinese restaurants? Why are pickled radish and onions served along with these dishes?
44. Why do Koreans use toilet paper on the dining table?
45. Why do Koreans cut beef with scissors?
46. Why do Koreans put cherry tomatoes in desserts like cakes and ice flakes?
47. Why do Koreans hide dog soup in restaurants but state that dog soups are healthy?

VIII. Rituals & Cultural Heritage
48. Why do Korean parents get so involved in choosing their children’s marital partners?
49. When Koreans get married they sell ham, but what exactly is it?
50. Why is a Korean wedding ceremony so short?
51. Why do Koreans change from a Western-style wedding dress into a traditional Korean dress during their wedding ceremonies?
52. Why do Korean brides and grooms wear Western clothes and take wedding pictures in a royal palace?
53. When Koreans marry they say they will serve the noodle for the guests, but in fact, it is hard to find noodles in the wedding. Why does this happen?
54. Why do Koreans put food, alcohol and even cigarettes on their ancestors’ tombs and why do they perform a big bow, called jeol, in front of the tomb?
55. What is special about Korean funeral culture?
56. What is ondol?
57. Why is Hangeul highly praised around the world?
58. What is samullori?

IX. Beliefs & Values
59. Why is the Chinese zodiac important to Koreans?
60. Why do Koreans prefer to marry a man who is four years older than a woman?
61. Why are Koreans reluctant to write their names in red?
62. Why is Korea’s city nightscape full of red crosses?
63. Why are Korean temples so colorful?
64. Why do Koreans like magpies and dislike crows?
65. Why are Koreans interested in other’s blood types?
66. Why is the 4th floor written as “F” in Korean buildings?
67. Why are there so many apartments in Korea?
68. Why does the oldest person usually pay for everyone at a restaurant?

X. Traditions & Customs
69. What’s the meaning of Seollal?
70. What does Chuseok mean to Koreans?
71. Why do Koreans become one year old as soon as they are born?
72. Why do Koreans have seaweed soup on their birthday?
73. Why are most Korean names composed of three syllables?
74. Why doesn’t a Korean wife take the surname of her husband after marriage?

XI. Korean Identity
75. What is the origin of ‘Korea’ as a country name?
76. Is Korea an ethnically homogenous country?
77. What does Baekdusan Mountain mean to Koreans?
78. What is jokbo?
79. Why do Koreans hesitate to adopt children?
80. What is han?

Bibliography