Yonsei Korea

In Korea, it is very important that the younger people obey and respect the older people. Firstly, the Korean language shows this Korean custom well. It has two different kinds of grammars and words depending on the age of the persons to talk to. It may be ridiculous that someone uses it which has to be used to the younger people to older people and it may be impolite or rude that he uses it which has to be used to the older people to younger people. Secondly, in Korean education, the traditional social rule to be called hyo which is originated from Confucianism and means that children should follow and obey parent's will is emphasized on. In this rule, the meaning of parents includes the other older people in society. For this reason in the family when someone has something to decide or choose (job, spouse, etc) they should discuss it with their parent and in the other group when they have any problem to solve they should do it with the older people. Finally, just as the Europeans or the Americans concede many things to the ladies, so the young Korean does many things to the old one. Naturally, a young person regardless of man and women offers one's seats to an old one in the bus or the subway. If someone didn't offer his own seat to an old person, most of people there would look upon him as impolite, rude, and not educated. In short, I can say that the Koreans have unique custom that follow and revere the old people.

Interesting Korean Drinking Manners
by Choi, Jae-Pil

Koreans drink alcohol to socialize as in other countries, but Koreans also have their own drinking manners. There is some interesting drinking etiquette in Korea as follows. Normally Koreans do not pour their own drink, especially the first one. They regard it as rude, or rather selfish manners to pour their own drink when they drink together. That is why Korean people usually look prepared to pour a drink for one or more other persons, especially seniors, when their glasses are nearly empty. After drinking an alcohol first, especially Korean men often pass their empty glass to another person. It may cause Westerners to feel that it's very nasty and can pass some disease from people to people. However Korean men like to drink alcohol in this way to show their friendship or become familiar more with people. Sharing one cup is a kind of expression of Korean men's deep affection for their friends or juniors. Foreigners can commonly watch that Koreans hold their glass or bottle with both hands when they receive and pour a drink with seniors. This is also one of the courtesy when drinking alcohol with Koreans. Using both hands shows respect to superiors and elders in Korea. Koreans usually drink alcohol to get along with people like other societies, but they have some different drinking manners from the others, especially Western society.

Dog Meat and Koreans
by Kim, Ji-yoon

Koreans eat dog meat as part of an important traditional custom. A lot of foreigners are against the custom of eating dogs; however, most Koreans do not understand that. Korea was old agricultural country, nevertheless, Koreans suffered from insufficiency of foods because quantity of the crops was very poor at that time. Although they needed lots of important nutrition like protein, products that they cultivated contained little protein. Then, oxen were major foods that supply protein to body, but commoners could not eat them easily. Because oxen which have big power of labor for agricultural were like whole property to them. Finally they started to eat dog meat instead of beef. It was very reasonable and economic behavior because they could raise dogs easily with food remains in their yards. Dog meat is very delicious, and every Korean knows that it is nutritious food. For these reasons, Koreans eat still dog meat, and it is still popular. Koreans have thought and eaten dog meat as a kind of meat like beef and pork for a long time. It is so natural that most Koreans do not understand the reason that foreigner treat Koreans eating dog meat as barbarous people.

Many Westerners criticize that Koreans are unfriendly to the strangers, but their complaints come from their lack of understanding Korean culture. Koreans do not smile often because Koreans strongly have belonged to Confucian culture, in which moderation is one of the best virtues to pursue. If someone smiles a lot in Confucian culture, people might think s/he is not a gentle person or insane. As a result, Koreans act very passively in public, but between friends they are very friendly and eager to express their feelings. Before modernization, Koreans have habituated themselves to be friendly to their family and neighbors to get help on their farming. As Korean society becomes bigger and modernized, Koreans need to get along with strangers. Now Koreans get on a bus, eat lunch with strangers everyday, but they do not smile each other. Actually Koreans need more time to set up modern values, for Korea has modernized too fast. While some people doubt whether Koreans have to strive after Westernized modern values, many Koreans try to pursue modern values to be friend with Westerners. If Westerners open their mind to understand Confucian culture, they can be a friend with Koreans. Koreans also attempt to get closer with Westerners.

Nowadays, as we are step into the global age, you can have more chances to mix with Korean. For this reason, there are several customs to care about when you meet them at first time. These advices are based on Confucian influence, which have been affecting on Korean society. First, do not hug each other to greet. It is unusual practice in Korea. This caution is especially applicable to women, also. Korean may regard it as rude doings. It is concerned about Confucian idea that does not tolerate to contact men and women. Next care is from the same reasons. Do not kiss for greeting. Finally, don not look at your partner's eyes at first seeing, particularly if he or she is older than you. It is one of the most important things to respect older person in Confucian conception. Many cultures have their own ways to greet at first seeing. Using those tips make you a polite person in Korea.

"Skinship" is a unique trait that helps hold all of Korean society together. It is not a proper English word. Koreans coined the word to explain physical contact between the same sex. "Skinship" is Korean's way of being together, staying close, and keeping in touch. For example, holding hands or wrapping arms around one's shoulders express friendship. This is common between school girls especially. "Skinship" creates a peaceful atmosphere in the office, because it enables people to get friendly in a short time. Physical contacts are less common with men. However, men do hold hands, or lock arms with one another when they have a drink. Such gestures are not acts of homo-sexuality. "Skinship" is a fine way of communication for men who are too timid to express their feelings verbally. In short, "Skinship" is something special to Korean people. It holds them together like magical glue, and lets them express a good will without a word. Most important, "Skinship" makes Koreans feel happy with each other.

Koreans have some unique drinking custom. At first, if Koreans are drinking with someone with a higher social status or age, the younger person pours a drink with two hands and also receives a drink with two hands. It is the token of admiration, that is, showing respect for older people. In Korea, when a child reaches the legal drinking age, one of the first things that he or she learns is this custom. By keeping this custom well, a younger person would be considered as a person with good manners by an older person. Secondly, Koreans consider it rude to fill other person's glass before he or she drains a glass completely. In addition, if a glass is vacant, other person has to fill it as soon as possible. That's because Koreans consider that pouring liquor into his or her own glass brings bad luck.

The last example is a sharing of a glass. This custom is common between friends, or the same age group. Let's assume that two friends are drinking. After one friend drinks an alcohol, that person offers the other friend a drink by using the same glass which he used. By using one same glass, Koreans share their friendship. As mentioned above, Koreans have traditional drinking custom. Such customs as pouring a drink with two hands, filling each other's glass, and sharing of a glass are peculiar to Korea. These drinking customs are the life stile of the Korean people, and help Korean people to unite.

Because of the glancing, foreigners think Koreans are very rude; actually, glancing at foreigners is one way of Koreans' showing interest in foreigners. Foreigners feel uncomfortable about glancing. It is regarded very rude, and they do not know why Koreans look at them. They may feel themselves a monkey in a zoo. However, Koreans do not regard that glancing is rude as much as foreigners think. If someone look at person who has a handicap, it is thought very rude. On the other hand, if Koreans glance at person with red dyed hair or who wears torn jeans, it means they are interested in him or her. Korean's glancing at foreigners is not much different from the glancing at person having red dyed hairs. Not having seen foreigner for whole their lives, most Koreans become curious about foreigners when first meeting them. Koreans want to see how foreigners look like or what they eat. Therefore, foreigners need to understand that Koreans' glancing is not mean to insult them but is the one way of showing their interest in foreigners.

"The old is the first," this sentence explains well about courtesy in Korea. Korean people consider politeness, especially to the elderly people as very important. Korean people respect their seniors in daily life. For example, they think they should make rooms for the old people in a bus even if they are tired. When they have dinner together, they start pick up spoon after the oldest person pick it up. In addition, many Koreans perform "je-sa," which came from Confucianism. They prepare paraphernalia ¯ fruits, rice cake, fish, ¯ for their ancestors in je-sa. Moreover they make a deep bow to the pictures of their ancestors. They think performing this traditional custom is a polite behavior to the dead person. They cherish the memories of ancestors through this behavior. An honorific expression is also developed in Korea. Speaking suitable words according to listeners is so important in Korea. If one Korean person doesn't use polite expressions to their seniors, other people might regard him as impolite. Through these examples you can understand that Korea is the country of courtesy.

Kimchi is a traditional and familiar food in Korea. When foreigners come To Korea, they often have a chance to eat Kimchi and wonder how to cook it. The process of cooking Kimchi is different as the kinds of kimchi. The process is the following: At first, wash Chinese cabbages clean and salt them down for several hours of the day. Then mix the Chinese cabbages together with seasonings. The seasonings include grinded peppers, garlic, spring onions, gingers, and `Jeotgal.' Jeotgal is a sort of traditionally pickled sea food and has lactic acid bacteria, so it ferments Kimchi. Finally, after fermenting it for a few days, delicious `Bae-chu' Kimchi (`Bae-chu' Kimchi uses Chinese cabbages as a material.) is born! There is another kind of Kimchi, `Kkagddugi.' It is the Kimchi using daikon radish. To make it, wash a big daikon radish and cut it off in the size of small regular hexahedron. After that, mix them with seasonings. Like `Bae-chu' Kimchi, if it is well preserved in proper temperature (approximately 2~7 Celsius), this Kimchi will get flavored. There is also Kimchi without grinded red peppers. It is called `Dongchimi.' It is cooked by using salt and water. It doesn't need seasonings with various materials. In brief, the process of Kimchi has some differences according to the various kinds of Kimchi.

Have you ever drunken alcohol with Korean friends? The custom Korean drinking shows Korean unique culture in three ways. First of all, Koreans attach great importance to observe the proprieties while we are drinking with elders. For instance, when you drink with elders in Korea, you should pour alcohol for elders with both hands to show respect to elders. Next, Koreans pass the liquor glass round to share our "jung" with friends. "Jung" means warm-hearted affectionate feeling among friends and neighbors in Korean society. Therefore, you can feel "jung" when you exchange glasses with each other while drinking. Finally, Koreans like to pay the bill for our friends. From the ancient time, Koreans like to share food with neighbors, so we do not like Dutch treat. Consequently, it is better not to insist that you pay for yourself. There is some unique drinking culture in Korea written above. If you want to experience Korean unique culture, try drinking with Korean friends!

Chusok is a thanksgiving holiday in Korea, on the August 15th by the lunar calendar. It is when the farming season is over and the entire new crop is harvested. When Chusok holidays begin, most Koreans visit their parents and relatives in the countryside, so the traffic becomes extremely heavy. On Chusok morning, they get dressed in clean, preferably new clothes called "Chusokbims". And they take part in a family memorial ceremony called "Charye" which is for worshipping their ancestors. Afterwards, they visit the graves of their ancestors and pray for their souls. On Chusok, Koreans make mouthful-sized rice cakes called "Songpyuns" which vary in size and shape from place to place. Songpyuns are usually made of rice skins and in the skins, there are ground beans or wild sesame with honey or chestnuts etc. Koreans have a great time sitting around, talking about their lives, making Songpyuns with the family members whom they had been missing. The children have fun selecting the ones they like from a variety of tastes. Chusok is definitely the biggest national holiday in Korea. It represents Koreans' respect, warm-heartedness and love towards their family.

Koreans put emphasis on festive seasons such as the New Year's Day and the Harvest festival. Long ago, Koreans lived in a same place for their whole lives with their relatives together or at least nearby; therefore, naturally all folks had close relationships with each other. This made it possible to develop Korean cultures that people could share many parts of their daily lives, especially during main festive seasons. Although people live apart from their families and hometowns today, Koreans' own festivals is still important in terms of love for a family and neighborhood, so all relatives flock together at their parents' houses on the New Year's day and the Harvest festivals. Several days before and after these seasons, almost all tickets of trains, express buses, airplanes are sold out, and highways are so crowded that, in the worst case, people might have to spend 5times more than usual on the street. But they are willing to leave for their hometowns regardless of how long it takes to get there and how far there is which can hardly happen in other countries. Once people arrive and meet their families, they get their energy back, making Korean traditional dishes and playing games of their own. For example, when the 15th of August by lunar calendar, the Harvest Day comes near, Koreans make `song-pyon', a rice cake containing powered sesame, chestnuts and sugar that is steamed on a layer of pine needles, and eat it together. On the New Year's Day people enjoy playing `yut', the four-stick game, kicking shuttlecock with the feet and flying kites with their village folks. In addition, they pay a visit to exchange the New Year's greetings with well-wishing remarks and elders give the New Year's gift of money to juniors. Through these activities, relatives and neighbors become more familiar. Thus Koreans consider these two festivals as great opportunities to strengthen their ties.

"Seol" is the biggest and cheerful traditional holiday for Korean families. "Seol" is the first day in the year of lunar calendar. All the families who live far away from each other meet in the hometown or the place their parents stay, and celebrate the beginning of a new year. In the morning of the day, family prepares tasty food as a sacrifice and bow to the ancestors who past away. After that, they make New Year Greetings to their parents and elder people to congratulate the new year. The children wear new clothes, so they can do New Years Greeting to the adults in a good manner. Boys and girls receive some pocket money or meaningful goods after the greeting. The family members have a pleasant chats because they could not meet for a long time. All the members play a game named "yood-nol-i" together, too. Playing this game, they can get their amity back. "Seol" is a delightful traditional holiday for the Korean family.

Koreans' constant staring seems rude to foreigners, and different cultural background causes this misunderstanding. When Koreans stare foreigners observing their appearance, action, and way of talking, foreigners feel displeased and perceive as if they were suspected of. However, this staring originates in unfamiliarity not in suspicion. Korea is a peninsula enclosed by rugged mountain ranges and open sea. This prevented pioneers, immigrants, and invaders from exploring it and sojourning in Korea. Korea is racially homogeneous, so Koreans are unfamiliar with foreigners. Staring at foreigners indicates favor and curiosity of the new in Korea. On the contrary, America and Europe are continents where many nations are closely assembled. Because of this geographical advantage, westerners migrated frequently and have lived with various races. Through this cultural background, they regard difference of appearance as common unlike Koreans. Koreans' constant staring seems rude to foreigners, and different cultural backgrounds cause this misunderstanding

Yonsei Korea

Korean Customs, Culture, and Holidays