Essential Etiquette You Must Know When Traveling to South Korea

Despite being a modern nation, South Korea maintains a unique cultural identity with distinctive characteristics in its culture, language, and cuisine.

Essential Etiquette You Must Know When Traveling to South Korea

South Korean cultural tradition is rooted in Confucianism, which is over 600 years old. Whether traveling, working, studying, or living in South Korea, it's important to pay attention to certain etiquette rules in communication and daily life to quickly adapt and integrate into the society and its people. These etiquettes and rules are similar to the concept of social manners in Vietnamese society and should be observed everywhere, at all times.

1. In Public Places

– Avoid sniffling or spitting in public places – it's highly impolite.

– While on buses, subways, or other public transportation, refrain from laughing or chatting loudly, maintain silence to avoid disturbing others, and especially offer your seat to the elderly and pregnant women to avoid receiving disapproving glances from others.

– Avoid prolonged phone calls or speaking too loudly while on buses or subways.

– Do not stare or point at others in public places.

– Always queue up, whether waiting for the bus, waiting to pay, or buying something...

– The front seats on buses often prohibit private conversations (with the person next to you) or phone calls (as it may distract the driver in front, causing the driver to lose focus while driving).

2. When Visiting Temples or Shrines

– When entering a temple in South Korea, it's advisable to avoid the main entrance and instead use the side entrance, leaving your shoes outside.

– Avoid sitting or standing directly in front of the main Buddha statue; instead, sit to the side.

– Remember to tie your hair neatly, dress modestly, and conservatively.

3. When Invited to a Korean Home

– Remove your shoes outside as many Koreans keep their homes very clean, even those with separate dining tables still engage in activities, conversations, watch TV... directly on the floor. Many restaurants, especially traditional ones in Korea, maintain the tradition of sitting on mats, so guests are required to remove shoes if they want to eat. Therefore, before stepping out of the house, make sure you're wearing a clean pair of socks and your feet aren't... smelly.

– Prepare a small gift to show sincerity and gratitude for the host's invitation.

– If you wish to visit a house or touch any object, you must seek the homeowner's permission beforehand.

4. When Eating Rice

– Koreans typically do not lift the rice bowl; instead, they place it on the table and use chopsticks or spoons to eat. In contrast, Japanese or Vietnamese people often lift the bowl while eating. This action depends on the cultural beliefs of each country. If a Japanese person says, 'Only a dog... puts its face down into the bowl while eating,' Koreans also have a saying, 'Only rude individuals lift their rice bowl!' Nowadays, these customs are more flexible, so if you're not accustomed to the Korean way of eating, you can clearly communicate with Koreans to understand and lift the rice bowl in the Vietnamese style. However, Korean rice bowls are often made of iron to retain heat, so be careful not to burn yourself when holding them!

– Korean table arrangement: Rice is placed on the left, soups or dishes with a lot of liquid and hot foods are placed on the right. Cold and dry dishes are placed on the left. Kimchi is placed in the middle of the table. Meat dishes are placed on the right, vegetables on the left. Spoons and chopsticks are placed in the right hand, with chopsticks placed right next to the spoon.

– Do not stick chopsticks into the rice bowl. Similar to some countries, sticking chopsticks into the rice bowl is akin to offering condolences. Therefore, you must be careful when handing someone a rice bowl, as if you stick chopsticks in, they will understand that you are cursing them.

– Do not place the spoon upside down; it should always be placed upright on the table. Do not rest or place chopsticks or spoons on top of the bowl.

– When chewing, avoid making noise. Be mindful not to let chopsticks and spoons clash with the bowl, causing noise.

– Do not use chopsticks and spoons to mix rice and food. Do not pick out the foods you won't eat, and refrain from dipping food with seasoning into dishes.

– While eating, avoid leaving leftover food on chopsticks or spoons.

– After finishing your meal, place the chopsticks and spoons back in their original position promptly.

– In daily life, when you've become part of a team or group, South Koreans may naturally use spoons to scoop and eat from a shared soup bowl, such as soybean paste stew (tuenchang) or kimchi soup. However, in formal meals with officials or elderly individuals, it's best to use a separate spoon to scoop soup, in case of sharing soup with others.

– South Koreans are usually quiet during meals. So, don't be surprised when dining with South Koreans if you find them not saying a word throughout the meal. Some South Koreans believe that talking during meals is impolite, not respecting the personal rights of the person opposite.

– When dining with adults: Let them sit inside, away from the entrance. Maintain a respectful sitting posture in front of adults. Wait for the adults to pick up their chopsticks before doing so yourself. Keep pace with the adults in eating. After the adults have finished their meal and stood up, stand up with them. Etiquette must be observed when families gather for meals. When eating rice, after the eldest adult in the family picks up their spoon, others should pick up their chopsticks.

5. When Drinking Alcohol

– The way Koreans drink alcohol has some rules, often related to the hierarchy among drinking companions. Pouring alcohol for oneself is generally not considered polite. Another person will pour the alcohol, and the recipient must lift the glass. If the pourer or recipient has a lower status (for example, older and younger siblings, superior and subordinate, older and younger individuals) then they must raise their remaining hand, placing it on their chest or supporting it at the elbow, to show respect. When someone pours alcohol for others, the glass should not remain full but be emptied. The recipient can quickly finish the remaining portion of the drink before receiving a new one from the pourer.

– Like in Vietnam, in Korea, using a single glass for the entire table is possible. Or Koreans may drink in pairs: One person wants to invite another to drink, so they offer their own glass to the other person to accept, and then pour the drink for them. After drinking, the invitee typically reciprocates with a similar process.

– If you want to pour someone else a drink, you must wait for them to finish their drink before pouring again. Koreans don't have the habit of pouring into a half-empty glass.

6. Settling the Bill After Eating

– When an older Korean person invites you to eat, they usually pay for the meal, and disputing over the bill in this case can sometimes be considered impolite. But if you want to express gratitude and invite a professor or an older person to eat, you should tell them in advance the reason and willingness to treat them to a meal.

– When dining with peers or younger friends with a 'let's go Dutch' mentality, you should also choose according to the situation. If it's someone you meet frequently, with many opportunities to dine together, an unspoken rule of 'I'll pay today, you pay tomorrow' may form. However, nowadays, Korean youth also embrace the 'splitting the bill' lifestyle similar to the West, so in many cases, they may suggest: 'everyone pays for themselves.'

7. Some Other Considerations

– Avoid writing names in red ink – this is quite similar to Vietnamese culture. Koreans believe that only the deceased have their names written in red ink, so it's considered extremely unlucky if you write in red ink when in the land of kimchi.

– When handing something to an older person, you should do so with both hands.

– When taking a taxi with an older person, the prestigious position is not the front seat next to the driver but the rear seat furthest back. Koreans believe that the front seat is reserved for the 'servant.' When the taxi stops, the person sitting in front should be responsible for getting out first and opening the door for the older person or someone with a higher position sitting in the back.

As reported by 2sao.vn

***

Reference: Travel guide from Mytour