This post Is a collection of some interesting facts about Korean culture that you may not have heard of before.
Kimchi is life – quite literally
Back in the days, when Koreans were poor and winters were long, there was not much choice for Koreans but to ferment cabbage to be able to survive. In essence, this is how Kimchi was born.
This tradition is so deep-rooted in the Korean history and character that today you’d have a hard time going to a restaurant and not having any Kimchi. It is always served as a side dish—no matter where you’re at. Quite logical, then, that Koreans also say ‘Kimchi’ instead of ‘Cheese’ when taking photographs.
Love motels are all around
Something of a rather unusual concept for many Westerners, love motels are big business in Korea. Love what? Love motels, which include rooms for several hours or one night, mostly designed for one very reason. They range from budget to luxury, from basic to kinky.
And why all that? Most young Korean live either in a dorm or with their parents until way past their student time. So, this is not (only) meant for hookups. Quite the opposite: many couples book a nice room for their date nights in advance!
Koreans got their president impeached with a non-violent mass protest
Caused by many issues such as the lack of taking responsibility for the Sewol ferry disaster as well as corruption, back in 2016/2017, millions of Koreans took to the street to protest against their president (on a side note: this president was Park Geun-Hye, quite interestingly the daughter of the aforementioned, alleged dictator leader of Korea in the 60s and 70s).
Their weapons? Candles! A mass protest without any violence or uproar (for reasons, see 12) but with something much more important instead: success. They were so ubiquitous in the media that they lead the assembly to impeach Park, who is now serving a 24-year sentence for a number of crimes.
Koreans will always be a year older than you
Well at least if you both count in your native way. The difference is that in Korea, everyone is already one year old at birth.
And not only that: on New Year’s, everyone simultaneously turns a year older! That means, in turn, that in Korean age, you could already be two years older than you are in an international age.
Drink Like a Boss
Drinking with the boss and a whole lot of colleagues is a mandatory tradition in South Korea. That can happen any day at the boss’s will or caprice, the employees are basically not allowed to say no, and are mostly forced to drink at the boss’s command.
The new anti-bully law is expected to root out so-called gapjil in the workplace in South Korea, “Gapjil” a recently coined word refers to abusive acts by people in positions of power or those under their influence.
I hope you liked this blog. If you haven't noticed, I'm working on taking all of my instagram posts and reposting them as blogs on my website. That way you guys can easily access all the posts I made in the past😉
By the way: here is this post