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Until the mid-20th century, Korea was primarily an agricultural society, and the seasonal rhythms of daily life were organized by the lunar calendar. As a society where farming was hugely important for the subsistence of its members, it developed a great variety of semi-religious events where prayers were offered for a good harvest and abundant food, and which gradually developed into communal celebrations and festivals.

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Korean youths are often hesitant to approach each other individually, so they usually date in groups. Blind dates are very common, either arranged by mutual friends or parents. Many couples in Korea celebrate anniversaries more often than once a year. These include celebrating their 100th, 200th or 1000th day together. The commercial sector has also promoted celebratory days alongside Valentine's Day such as Rose Day, Wine Day and Kiss Day.

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In Korea the family name comes before the given name. It is impolite to address someone by their given name unless invited to do so.

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South Korean men are literally obsessed with cosmetics. They spend a ton of money on cosmetics products (particularly make-up) in order to improve their appearance. In fact, South Korean men are the world's top per-capita consumers of skincare products, with four times the purchases of runner-up Denmark.

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The report showed South Korea’s average broadband adoption rate to be 26.1 megabits per second,

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Identification.Koryo (918–1392) and Choson (1392–1910) were the last two Korean dynasties. Korean immigrants and their descendants in Russia, China, and Japan use the names of those dynasties as a reference for their ethnicity

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Food is an important part of Korean cultural identity. In the diets of even the most Westernized urban dwellers, traditional Korean cuisine, which emphasizes grains—especially rice—and fresh vegetables, continues to occupy a dominant role even amid the popularity of pizza, hamburgers, sushi, Chinese food, and other foreign dishes.

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If you are a native English speaker, want to travel, and earn some cash on the way — Korea is your place.

The entry barrier for teaching English as a Second Language is extremely low. You just have to speak English, have a Bachelor’s degree, and clean criminal record.

Salaries are decent.

Easy money with plenty of opportunities to save or spend in style, it is all up to you.

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All Koreans speak one language, use a unique and indigenous developed alphabet 'Hangul', and belong to the same racial stock - part of the Altaic family of races.

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The Cultural Atlas aims to inform and educate the public in cross-cultural attitudes, practices, norms, behaviours, communications and business skills

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Are you familiar with South Korea? If you're not, you should be. Occupying an area of just 100,000 square kilometers (39,000 square miles), South Korea might be a small country, but as you will see, it is a wonderful and surprisingly diverse place that boasts a number of impressive achievements. You might have heard about their highly efficient economy, super modern technologies and influential pop culture but in fact, South Korea is so much more than just Samsung and Gangam Style. Located on a tiny piece of land on East Asia surrounded by three of the world´s superpowers: China, Russia and Japan, who have even made several attempts to subjugate them, South Korea managed to defend themselves and break through, receiving worldwide acclaim in many different fields. If you want to learn more about this extraordinary country (and we are sure you do), keep on reading because this post might just open your eyes to a South Korea you might not be aware of. From their obsession with cosmetics to their problem with number 4 and electric fans, these are 25 Interesting Facts About South Korea.

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Are you familiar with South Korea? If you're not, you should be. Occupying an area of just 100,000 square kilometers (39,000 square miles), South Korea might be a small country, but as you will see, it is a wonderful and surprisingly diverse place that boasts a number of impressive achievements.

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As the Winter Olympics continue in South Korea, here we highlight some of the most interesting and quirky facts about the country.

1. It's heaven for tech junkies

Digital addicts will be relieved to know they'll never have to wait too long for their internet fix in South Korea. The country was judged to have the world's fastest internet connection speed for the 12th consecutive quarter last year, according to Akamai - the content delivery network (CDN) responsible for serving between 15 and 30 per cent of all web traffic.

The report showed South Korea's average broadband adoption rate to be 26.1 megabits per second, putting it ahead of Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong and Switzerland. It is also reported to have the best 4G availability in the world, with users able to expect a signal 95.71 per cent of the time.

2. It's one of the biggest economies in the world

This relatively small country (it is about the size of England) has seen its economy grow steadily since 2009 and currently has the 11th largest GDP in the world ($1.4 trillion, according to the latest ranking by the World Bank).

After China and Japan, South Korea is the third biggest in Asia and also the seventh largest exporter in the world, with its top products being integrated circuits (including computers, phones and other electronics) and cars.

3. It is home to one of the world's best airports

Incheon International Airport was named the world's best for the 12th year running at last year's Airport Service Quality Awards. Why? The gardens, free showers and sauna probably helped. It also ranked third best in last year's World Airport Awards.

4. The busiest air route on Earth is there

The most crowded flight path on Earth is found in South Korea. It is the 280-mile hop from Seoul to Jeju International.

More than 26 million passengers use Jeju airport each year - that's more than any UK airport bar Gatwick and Heathrow. There were a staggering 64,991 departures between these two airports in 2017 - that works out at around 178 a day.

5. Which takes fliers to a very curious island

Jeju is the capital of an island, Jejudo, which might just be the most popular holiday destination you've never heard of. Unesco-listed, and billed as South Korea's answer to Hawaii, it's pure Instagram gold, and home to dramatic volcanic landscapes, underground caves, hiking trails and scenic beaches. Halla Mountain, at 1,940m above sea level, is South Korea's highest peak, while the cone of Seongsan Ilchulbong, or "Sunrise Peak", is particularly spectacular.

In 2011 Jejudo was named among the "New7Wonders of Nature", though there were accusations that its selection was down not just to its beauty, but also the readiness of tourism and marketing organisations to stump up cash - including taxpayers' money - to support its campaign. There are also casinos, which help lure travellers from China, and, thanks to the island's self-governing status, anyone can visit without a visa.

But Jejudo also has a dark side. In 1948 and 1949, the South Korean government brutally put down an attempted uprising on the island. Villagers, including women and children, were massacred, and as recently as 2008 mass graves were still being uncovered. Some 30,000 people died as a result of the uprising, with a further 40,000 fleeing to Japan, and the atrocities are remembered at the 4.3 Peace Park memorial.

6. It has an erotic theme park

Bizarrely, there's also a sex-themed park on the island, Jeju Love Land, which features phallus statues, interactive exhibits on the "masterbation cycle", and other sculptures of humans in flagrante. Love Land is said to owe its existence to Jejudo's popularity as a honeymoon destination. Young newlyweds would arrive knowing next to nothing about the birds and the bees so some hotel employees offered to share their expertise. The island soon became an unofficial centre for sex education, making the theme park entirely logical.

7. It has an impressive 12 World Heritage sites

Jejudo forms part of the country's roster of 12 Unesco World Heritage Sites. These national treasures include royal palaces, tombs, shrines and well preserved hanok villages (hilly settlements packed with traditional Korean houses).

8. There's futuristic architecture

The capital is home to some truly striking architecture, including Zaha Hadid's Dongdaemun Design Plaza, with its curvaceous metallic façade, and the 1,819 foot Lotte World Tower, which opened last year. It is the fifth tallest building in the world and nearly twice the height of the Shard in London.

9. More than half of South Korea is cloaked in forest

Beyond the skyscrapers, South Korea boasts a spectacular natural landscape, 64 per cent of which is covered in forest.

There are plenty of mountains, including eight that surround the capital. Visitors to this month's Winter Olympics, in the unassuming ski resort of Pyeongchang, can take in a sleepy backdrop of Buddhist temples and dreamy peaks, such as the imposing Seoraksan which forms part of the backbone of the Korean peninsula's mountainous landscape.

The country also has 2,413 kilometres of seaside, with wide coastal plains to the west and south, and nearly 3,000 small uninhabited islands just offshore.

10. It has a world-beating food scene

Korean food has been making waves across the globe, with kimchi, among other dishes, popping up on restaurant menus everywhere. It received the official haute cuisine stamp of approval in 2016 when the Michelin Guide launched its first Seoul edition, and there are now 24 Michelin-starred restaurants.

11. It's the breakdancing capital of the world

South Korea danced its way onto the world map with 'Gangnam Style' back in 2012. But there's more to the country's music and dance scene than K-pop.

For one thing, South Korea has been home to some of the world's best breakdancers for years after it was introduced to the country in the Nineties by American soldiers.

12. And famous for surgical enhancement

South Korea, which offers some of the world's best skincare products, has also been reported to have the highest per capita rate of cosmetic surgery in the world, with one in three women in the country aged between 19 and 29 reported to have gone under the knife, according to a 2015 survey by Gallup Korea. The most popular procedures were reported to be eyelid surgeries.

The streets of Gangnam, the capital's upmarket financial district located south of the Han River which bisects the city, house several cosmetic clinics while the city's metro stations are filled with giant advertisements for cosmetic surgery showing women with the 'perfect' face. Such is the ongoing obsession that Incheon Airport was once reportedly considered installing a plastic surgery clinic in one of it terminals.

Last year, however, Seoul's metro network announced it would be banning plastic surgery adverts across its stations.

13. It has a growing film industry

The country's films broke ground on the international cinema scene in recent years with critically acclaimed productions such as Okja, starring Hollywood actors Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, which got a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and the 2003 Korean classic Oldboy, which got a Hollywood remake by American film director Spike Lee in 2013.

14. Tension to the north is hitting its tourism

With the backdrop of a war of words between North Korea and the US, 2016 saw a year-on-year fall of 4.1 million in overseas arrivals to South Korea - the first dip after years of growth.

While the level of tension on the peninsula remains high, and the Foreign Office advises against trip to its northern neighbour, it maintains that South Korea is perfectly safe: "Around 140,000 British nationals visit South Korea every year. Most visits are trouble-free."

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As the Winter Olympics continue in South Korea, here we highlight some of the most interesting and quirky facts about the country. Digital addicts will be relieved to know they'll never have to wait too long for their internet fix in South Korea.

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And why you will too.

1. Food.

Very unsurprising that one of the best zests of Korea is Korean traditional cuisine. The variety of Korean food is very broad and the quality is extremely high.

Some people say that in terms of food you have to choose the province carefully. The province where I live - Jeollanam-do is famous all over Korea for the culinary delicacies it has to offer.

Pork is a Korean traditional meat, so if you're a Muslim you should be very well aware of that before coming. Of course, there are plenty of alternatives such as chicken and seafood dishes.

In terms of Korean traditional food Korea is indeed a country to crave for.

2. Nature. Spring and Fall.

See that picture on the top?

That's how the spring in Korea really looks like. No filters.

The spring and fall are absolutely mesmerizing in Korea. Those are the best seasons to visit Korea, as the weather lets you enjoy the beauty of nature to the fullest. There is no much rain, it is warm and the cool refreshing breeze on a shiny day makes you smile involuntarily.

August and September are golden for visiting famous Jeju-do island, luring its visitors with astonishing beaches where water temperature lets you swim and snorkel for hours without the need to leave the salty sea gently nursing and relaxing your body.

3. Making money.

If you are a native English speaker, want to travel, and earn some cash on the way - Korea is your place.

The entry barrier for teaching English as a Second Language is extremely low. You just have to speak English, have a Bachelor's degree, and clean criminal record.

Salaries are decent.

Easy money with plenty of opportunities to save or spend in style, it is all up to you.

4. People.

Korean people have some great cultural traits.

They are very friendly to foreigners. Always very willing to help. Although many of them who live outside of Seoul most likely would not be able to speak English, if you'd ask for a direction they will take you by the hand and lead you to your destination.

Koreans are so hardworking. No. SO HARDWORKING.

I admire Korean people.

Everyone is doing his job damn well. Everyone is an expert in his own domain and performs with great professionalism. Bank managers, doctors, nurses, customer service, bus drivers, the list goes on. It feels like everyone is a go-to guy here. I especially love a guy who fixes my bikes. Watching him work is the feast for the eyes.

Dear People of Korea, you earned my deepest respect.

5. Online shopping

This service was perfected in South Korea. Thanks to the size of it, the normal delivery takes just 2 days. I order food, electronics, clothes, well basically everything online, and it saves me tons of time and removes the hassle.

Korea is a heaven for my inner consumerist and hell for my inner minimalist.

6. Internet.

It is fast, reliable and it is everywhere. Theoretically, it can save you a lot of money if you don't buy LTE internet through provider but I still do.

WiFi is comfortably in every coffee shop, bar, restaurant and even in buses and Seoul subway. Simply amazing.

7. Free water.

Oh wow, that's a biggie. In other countries where I lived before they charge money for water. In Korea the water is free. The quality is exceptionally good. The dispensers are everywhere, you can come to any cafe, restaurant or public facility and find clean drinking water. God bless Korea!

8. Free food.

Sometimes Koreans serve you free food in the restaurant if you order a lot or if you are a regular. They call it the Service. It's a cultural thing, and I love it.

Koreans adore foreigners.

With all of their passion about everything western, if you are white, or should I say Caucasian, they will call you to drink with them if you pass by their table on festivals or while traveling. Happened many times to my Bulgarian friend.

If you look Korean they don't care but get obtrusively curious when I start speaking Russian, and as a result, many times I got my fair share of curiosity and free food. He-he.

Also, there are no tips in Korea. If you leave more money, they will chase you and hand it back. Leaving tips is unacceptable. After Canada, where you can get kicked out from the bar for not leaving tips, Korea feels like a fairy tale.

9. Public transportation.

It works!

There are timers almost on each bus stop, and the buses run with high precision. Buses, trains, planes everything comes on time.

Plane to Jeju-do island from Gwangju is 25 minutes. Take off, orange juice, landing. Just great!

Commuting by boats is a pretty cool experience too.

The good thing about taxi is Kakao Taxi - an app where you can call a taxi, and it will pick you up. You can also track it as it moves to your location.

10. Women

Korean women are the most beautiful women in the world. They are drop-dead gorgeous.

They are cute

They age crazy slow

They are fashionable

They are well-mannered and well-educated

They have strong family culture

"Say no more! I want to come to Korea!"
Wait a second. Not everything is a sweet candy. There is something you might want to know before coming here.
Here is my list of the things I dislike about Korea.
Sorry to everyone offended, nothing personal.

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Very unsurprising that one of the best zests of Korea is Korean traditional cuisine. The variety of Korean food is very broad and the quality is extremely high. Some people say that in terms of food you have to choose the province carefully.

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The once-dominant Confucian culture-with its emphasis on respect for ancestors, age, and seniority-continues to influence Korean family, work, and social life, albeit to a lesser degree than in the past. In addition to other factors, such as economic status and position in a business hierarchy, age and marital status are among the determinants of relative seniority, and there is some expectation that even between social acquaintances these factors-especially age-will influence relations.

Traditional family life is much involved with rituals marking life-cycle milestones and the observation of holidays and ancestral rites. The most important passages in a person's life are the completion of a baby's first 100 days, one's marriage, and one's 61st birthday. According to traditional Korean belief, the spirits of the departed do not leave the earth for several generations; thus, deceased parents and grandparents are still considered part of the family. Ancestral rites ( cherye) are performed to honour them on death anniversaries and on major holidays. Two of the most important holidays are Sŏllal ( Lunar New Year ) and Chusŏk (harvest moon festival, often referred to as the Korean Thanksgiving), both observed according to the lunar calendar . These are marked by the gathering of families in the ancestral hometown or at the home of the head of the family. Traditional elements of holiday celebrations include the formal, respectful greeting of elders, the preparation and eating of special foods such as specific types of rice cakes ( ddŏk), and the wearing of traditional dress (hanbok ).

Hanbok was the everyday dress of Koreans for thousands of years before the opening of the country to the West. Western dress has supplanted the hanbok almost everywhere, but even urban dwellers commonly still wear it on special occasions such as important family meetings, holidays, weddings, and funerals. Women's and girls' formal hanbok consists of several layers of undergarments under a colourful, long billowing skirt and short jacket held closed with a long tie. The men's and boys' version consists of full-legged pants and a long, wide-sleeved jacket. There are different hanbok for special occasions, such as weddings, babies' birthdays, and 61st-birthday celebrations.

Food is an important part of Korean cultural identity. In the diets of even the most Westernized urban dwellers, traditional Korean cuisine, which emphasizes grains-especially rice-and fresh vegetables, continues to occupy a dominant role even amid the popularity of pizza, hamburgers, sushi, Chinese food, and other foreign dishes. A Korean meal generally consists of rice, soup or stew , and a number of side dishes, almost invariably among them kimchi , or pickled vegetables. Such is the importance of kimchi in the national diet that an estimated 160 or more varieties have been identified, and there is a museum in Seoul dedicated to the dish. The most common type is the spicy paech'u (Chinese cabbage) kimchi. Although many families today buy most of their kimchi in supermarkets, many others still make their own. The traditional practice of kimjang, in which villages and families devoted several days in the autumn to preparing the winter supply of kimchi, is celebrated in such annual kimjang festivals as that held in the southwestern city of Kwangju . Other popular Korean dishes are bibimbap (rice mixed with vegetables, egg, a spicy sauce, and sometimes meat), jjajangmyŏn (noodles in a black-bean sauce), pulgogi (or bulgogi; marinated meat grilled over charcoal), and samgyet'ang (a soup of stewed whole chicken stuffed with rice and ginseng), which is eaten as a restorative, particularly during hot weather.

The arts

Traveling troupes that performed shadow or puppet plays, did acrobatics and juggling, danced and sang, and performed versions of court or popular entertainments were long a feature of Korean village and provincial town life. Among the oldest forms of Korean dance and theatre performance is the masked dance. In addition to professional groups, villagers in different areas of the country formed folk groups to perform their own local versions of the sandae masked play and dances. Today the sandae is performed by villagers in Kyŏnggi and South Kyŏngsang provinces as well as in parts of North Korea. Performers are males. Masks cover either the whole head or the face and are made from paper or gourds or, occasionally, are carved from wood. They are boldly painted to represent the stock characters of the play: monks, shaman, noblemen, young dancing girl, and others.

P'ansori , a sung narrative accompanied by virtuoso drumming, was created by professional performers during the Chosŏn period. Either a man or a woman could be the solo singer-dancer, and the performer was often a shaman. The current repertoire of six long stories was codified in the 19th century by the performer Shin Jae-hyo.

Traditional folk dances, some of them ancient, survive, and several-the mask dance ( chŏyongmu) of the Silla kingdom, the crane dance ( hakch'um) of the Koryŏ, and the dance of the spring nightingale ( ch'unaengjŏn)-are supported and promoted by the government as designated "intangible cultural properties." Folk music, accompanied by traditional musical instruments such as the kayagŭm (a 12-stringed zither) and the changgo (an hourglass-shaped drum), has undergone a revival and is performed at ceremonies and festive occasions.

One of the earliest examples of Korean painting is found in the mural paintings in the royal tombs of Koguryŏ . The best-known mural paintings are those in the Ssangyong Tomb at Yonggang, located in North Korea . Ceramic arts became highly developed, flourishing during the Koryŏ period-when Korea produced some of its most notable examples of fine celadon ware-and diffusing to Japan. Every province continues to produce its distinctive ceramic ware.

Korean architecture shows Chinese influence, but it is adapted to local conditions, utilizing wood and granite, the most abundant building materials. Beautiful examples are found in old palaces, Buddhist temples, dolmens, and Buddhist pagodas. Western-style architecture became common from the 1970s, fundamentally changing the urban landscape, but some old-style wooden houses ( hanok) still exist even in Seoul, and the traditional Korean floor-heating system ( ondol) continues to be used in new construction.

Cultural institutions

The National Museum of Korea maintains artifacts of Korean culture, including many national treasures, chiefly in the central museum in Seoul; there are branch museums in some one dozen cities across the country. Archaeological sites include the ancient burial mounds at Kyŏngju , capital of the Silla kingdom, and Kongju and Puyŏ, two of the capitals of Paekche . The largest collection of contemporary art is in the National Museum of Contemporary Art at Kwach'ŏn, near Seoul.

Many museums, performance groups, and institutes have been established to preserve the traditional arts and crafts and promote contemporary ones. The National Theatre, in Seoul, is home to four resident companies: the National Drama Company, National Changgŭk (traditional Korean musical drama) Company, National Dance Company, and National Traditional Music Orchestra. The National Classical Music Institute (formerly the Prince Yi Conservatory) plays an important role in the preservation of folk music. It has had its own training centre for national music since 1954. The Korean National Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Symphony Orchestra are two of the best-known organizations performing Western music.

Sports and recreation

South Koreans are avid sports and outdoors enthusiasts. The martial art tae kwon do and the traditional belt-wrestling style called ssirŭm (which is similar to Japanese sumo and Mongolian wrestling) are widely practiced national sports. There are well-supported professional baseball and football (soccer) leagues, and the "Red Devils," as fans of the South Korean World Cup football team are called, are especially well known for their enthusiastic demonstrations of support. The country's system of national parks attracts large numbers of hikers, campers, and skiers.

Several events have been of great importance to South Korea in terms of developing the country's international sports reputation. The 1988 Summer Olympic Games at Seoul not only boosted national pride but also were the catalyst for the construction of many new sports and cultural facilities and for the enhancement of Korean cultural identity. Another landmark was the selection in July 2011 of P'yŏngch'ang (Pyeongchang), Kangwŏn province, as the site of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games ; it was the first location in Asia outside Japan to be chosen to host the Winter Games. Perhaps even more significant was South Korea's cohosting, with Japan, the 2002 World Cup finals. Ten cities in South Korea, including Seoul, Pusan, Taegu, and Taejŏn, provided venues for about half the games, and the Korean national team advanced to the semifinal, the first time an Asian country had achieved that level.

Media and publishing

Constitutionally guaranteed press freedoms, often violated before 1987, are now generally observed. There are a number of nationally distributed daily newspapers (including economic, sports, and English-language papers) and many regional and local dailies. The daily Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo are the country's two oldest newspapers, both established in 1920. The Yŏnhap News Agency is the largest news organization. In addition to the publicly owned Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), a growing number of private and local radio and television stations have been established. The privately owned Munhwa Broadcasting Company (MBC) and Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) are the biggest television broadcasting networks after KBS, and the publicly owned Educational Broadcasting System, like KBS, MBC, and SBS, reaches a nationwide television audience. Cable and satellite television were also growing in popularity in the early 21st century.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries South Korean films and television dramas experienced a surge in popularity across Asia that also caught on, to a somewhat lesser extent, in the United States and other countries. This hallyu ("Korean wave") brought many South Korean actors and popular music figures to international attention. The hallyu was seen as an economic and cultural asset, as it brought revenue and tourists to the South Korean economy as well as increasing the country's profile abroad. In the film industry, Im Kwon-taek (Im Kwŏn-t'aek), Park Chan-wook (Pak Ch'an-uk), and Kim Ki-duk (Kim Ki-dŏk), among others, established reputations as directors of international stature.
Chan Lee Woo-ik Yu

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South Korea - Daily life and social customs | history - geography

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South Korea - Daily life and social customs: The once-dominant Confucian culture-with its emphasis on respect for ancestors, age, and seniority-continues to influence Korean family, work, and social life, albeit to a lesser degree than in the past. In addition to other factors, such as economic status and position in a business...

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how is south Korean culture/traditions so unique.

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The culture of South Korea includes its traditions and customs, as well as folklore, music, language, art, and food, which developed from the early Korea culture. In 1948 South Korea split from North Korea and started along a path of westernization. Prior to splitting from North Korea, South Korea was heavily influenced by Chinese culture.

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what are the things that make people want to learn about the culture/traditions in south Korea.

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Culture of South Korea - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family

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Culture of South Korea - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family Ja-Ma

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Why do people want to be apart of south Korea culture and traditions.

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FOCUS March 1998 Volume 11

Cultural Values and Human Rights : the Korean Perspective

Byung-Sun Oh - Sogang University, Seoul
(This article is a short version of the research paper from South Korea included in the book "Human Rights in Asian Cultures - Continuity and Change", 1997 published by HURIGHTS OSAKA. - Editor's note.)
Confucian Tradition and Familism-directed Culture

Korean culture in general may be described as a part of East Asian culture, centered on Chinese Confucian tradition and characterized by extraordinary homogeneity. All Koreans speak one language, use a unique and indigenously developed alphabet 'hangul', and belong to the same racial stock - part of the Altaic family of races. Most young Koreans receive a virtually identical education from primary school to high school using similar textbooks and pedagogy.

Moreover, the relatively small size of Korean territory means that the population is subject to nearly the same climate and natural environment. Nearly all parts of the country lie within the distance of a half-day or at most one-day round trip. Thus Korean people can easily maintain close relationships with their relatives and friends. These factors all help to integrate the Korean people into a tight and homogeneous cultural and social system.

Due to the family-centered Confucian social ethics but also other traditional cultural legacy such as folkloristic Shamanism which stresses emotion and affections in interpersonal relations, Koreans usually place much value on family and family-related matters in their lives. This kind of attitude and social behavior may be called 'familism'-directed culture.

Introduction of Christianity and Western Value System

Another important aspect of Korean culture can be understood through the religion of Korean people. The majority of Koreans regard themselves as believers in one or more religion, belonging to some kind of major religious bodies in the world. Though Korean culture was greatly influenced over two thousand years by Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and folkloristic Shamanism, Christianity has played an extraordinary role in Korea's modernization. Korea now has by far the highest proportion of Christians - nearly half of all professed religious believers - among the traditionally Confucian and Buddhist cultures of East Asia. According to the recent population and housing census, the proportion of Christians in the total population of Korea was 24.3 per cent (including 4.8 per cent Catholics) in 1991. Since the first resident Christian missionary, the American medical doctor Horace N. Allen entered Korea in 1884, it was considered true that Christianity was a particularly important benefactor to Korea in that it presented Koreans with a new, that is Western, civilization. The contribution of Christianity to Korea may be summarized into the following several points: introduction of Western civilization, rearmament of a decaying morality, promotion and popularization of education, enhancement of the social status of women, rectification of the early marriage system, popularization of the Korean alphabet and vernacular literature, modernization of traditional values and philosophy, and stimulation of individualism.

Syncretic New Confucian Ethics as a Contemporary Social Morality

Many Koreans have become concerned that acceptance of Christianity and Western way of thinking and living may lead to a loss of national identity unless combined with traditional ethical and cultural values. Many Koreans are worried that the values, morality, and ethics of modern-day Korea lag far behind the level of material progress.

The new Confucian ethics places great emphasis on education and personal and familial relations. It also stresses personal cultivation, self-improvement, and spiritual and psychological discipline of the self. This is why education has become one of the most important socioeconomic issues in Korea.

The new Confucian ethics also stresses a harmonious personal relationship among individuals and puts great importance on harmony, cooperation, consensus, and social solidarity among members of an organization. This contrasts with the Western emphasis on competition among the members of an organization and maybe the chief factor determining the distinctive characteristics of organizational dynamics in Korea and other East Asian countries.

Cultural Values and Human Rights

1. Familism-entailed Preference for Sons

Traditionally the principles of Confucian ideology served as the primary influence on the behavior and customs of the Korean family. The male-oriented teachings of Confucianism stress the patriarchal role of men, the importance of family lineage, and the significance of paying homage to ancestors. As such, men predominate over women and sons are preferred over daughters.
Today the importance of sons has diminished, largely due to increasing numbers of people who are educated, experienced in cultural exchanges, and aware of different values. However, Koreans still generally prefer sons over daughters. When a mother gives birth to a son, she feels relief, pride, and joy because she believes that she has fulfilled one of her fundamental duties to her parents-in-law. When a daughter is born, the mother usually feels disappointed and consoles herself with the thought that her daughter can be helpful to her. Nevertheless, many mothers hope for sons the next time, or continue to give birth until they bear sons.

2. Sex Discrimination in the Labor Market

During the three decades of a rapid economic growth coupled with industrialization since 1960s, the transition from an agrarian society to an industrialized one cannot but rely on the cheap wages and the high productivity of laborers. In the process of industrialization, the masses of people who migrated out of rural areas became the urban poor, forming a large industrial reserve force. These people have been compelled to sacrifice themselves for the sake of national economic development. The trade union rights and the right to strike have been held in check by harsh labor laws and other laws. At times, labor movements have been denounced by the government as pro-communist activities or as acts sympathetic to North Korea. The government's dependence on police power in suppressing the exercise of rights by laborers and low income urban people is one of the important causes of human rights infringements in South Korea.

3. The Rule of Politics Over the Rule of Law

Another impeding factor or difficulty in implementing the international covenants on human rights and protecting human rights is the weakness of the normative power of the Constitution. In theory, the Constitution is the supreme law of the state and sets the highest standard for the merit and validity of government measures and laws. However, since its first proclamation in 1948, the Constitution has been unable to preserve its dignity as the supreme law. As has been amended nine times so far, all of these amendments were centered on the questions of the method of electing the President, the lengths of the terms, and the structure of the state power. All the constitutional amendments, except for those of 1960 and the present Constitution in 1987, were aimed at extending the term of office of the incumbent president or at providing ex post facto justifications of the military coup d'etat (1961 and 1980). Because of this history, the Constitution has come to be regarded as something that can be changed for the maintenance of power of the president or ruling party.

Human Rights and Human Dignity

The idea of human rights inhering in each person as a human being was not part of pre-modern Korean legal culture; but one had duties according to one's place in the sociopolitical hierarchy, and within that context one's sense of duty might well carry with it, even in relations with superiors, a modest expectation that the other recognized a duty to reciprocate, if not in equal kind, at least with humane condescension. Thus within the Confucian hierarchy of carefully differentiated stations in society, there existed to some degree a 'reciprocal-duty consciousness' which in effect, and in perspective, functioned as a type of qualified individual-rights consciousness. Irresponsibility was not an accepted principle of government or social rule, however often manifested by some elites. However, the notion of human rights established under government policy and formal law, with protective institutions, as developed in parts of the West, was new and alien when Korea was forced to open its ports for intercourse with Japan and the West.

It may be conducive to describe some ideas on human rights proclaimed on such events as Tonghak (Eastern Learning) Movement of the 1890s and Equalization Movement of the 1920s to understand the Koreans' early efforts in realizing equality of people and human dignity.

Tonghak developed an institutional hierarchy throughout the south, spread rapidly among the rural poor, and by 1894, when it launched a full-scale rebellion, the followers numbered around 400,000. Though its doctrines contained a new belief in social equality and had some Christian elements, it was not opposed to Confucianism but rather sought to revitalize the five relationships in Confucian ethics and loyalty to the monarch. It was from the beginning opposed to foreign influence.

Later in the 1920s, the Statement of Purposes of the Equalization Movement (Hyongpyong) launched by the butcher (paeckchong) group establishing a society to improve the social position of the paeckchong, declared among many things the following points: 1) Equality and fairness are [should be] the basis of society; kindness is [should be] a basic attribute of human nature. 2) The basic purpose of our society is to smash down social ranks, do away with contemptuous labels, and encourage education so that we too may truly have standing as persons.

Based upon past diverse experiences, such as Tonghak Movement, Equalization Movement, Independence Movement and so on, though they have been suppressed by foreign and domestic political powers even after liberation from Japanese rule, the Koreans have developed a strong desire to protect human rights. This has been expressed by such political upheavals as the student revolution of 1960 and the democratization movement of 1989.

Nowadays, the harmonious integration of the values stressing cooperation and competition among members of an organization appears increasingly to be crucial for Korean society's continuous development. The communal spirit-oriented new Confucian ethics, which stresses duty-consciousness, contrasts with the individual-oriented Protestant ethics, which emphasizes right-consciousness. For many Confucian-value-oriented Koreans, the development of the concept of basic human rights, especially in connection with private property, private interest, and privacy of an individual, presents a challenge. This is in part because the new Confucian ethics stresses one's duty to a larger entity over individualism.

Current Efforts to Enhance the Protection of Human Rights

The most important impeding factor and difficulty in the implementation of the international human rights covenants in South Korea is the division of the country. In the case of South Korea, the bitter experience of the Korean War (1950-1953) has left a legacy of fear, distrust and hostility in the minds of the people against communism and the North. Anti-communist and anti-North Korea ideology has been used to justify a series of military coup d'etat and authoritarian regimes. In the name of 'national security', oppressive laws which curtail or violate human rights have been enacted and any speech or activity critical of the government has been punished as a criminal act due to its beneficial effect on North Korea.

1. Improving the Status and Legal Rights of Women

Legal status reflects political, economic, and social status. Since the 1970s and 1980s, Korean women have come to develop an increased understanding of women's legal rights. As a result, the revised Family Law was passed in 1989 and was hailed as the most outstanding victory of women's political groups. Women also participated actively in the enactment of the Equal Employment Law, and drafted the Mother-Child Care Law and the Prevention of Prostitution Act.
The Family Law reflects tradition and custom as it deals with marriage and family life. First, the revised law amended the head of the family inheritance and the succession system, thus weakening the patriarchal system to some extent. But the system of the head of the family still remains. Second, it has broadened the scope of relatives, including the mother's and wife's relatives along with those of the father and husband. Third, the earlier provision permitting a husband to register a child born out of wedlock without the consent of his wife was abolished. Fourth, a new provision was included permitting equal parental authority over the children: the old law recognized the father's authority only. Fifth, the law concerning marital age has been strengthened in favor of the wife. Sixth, in the case of divorce, the couple must discuss who has the responsibility of rearing the children. Besides, a property division claim has been inaugurated in case of divorce and if a couple does not reach an agreement, the case is brought to the Family Court. Sixth, men and women have been given equal rights to inheritance. Thus it can be said that the present Family Law enhanced women's rights.

2. Restoring Just Constitutional Order by Trying State Criminals

Perhaps the most crucial and thorny agenda in the reform policy under the present government has been the issue of trying state criminals and restoring just constitutional order. Like a number of other governments, the current civilian government, launched in 1993, confronted the issue of bringing military violators of the Constitution and human rights to trial. Human rights organizations and progressive political sectors urged the incumbent government to set up trials for ex-presidents and generals and their one-time crony national assembly members. The subsequent prosecution of former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo however was criticized on one ground. While the order of the President for the Kwangju probe is proper it should be carried out by independent special prosecutors not one whose job depends on the President. Nonetheless indictment proceeded without much resistance and two ex-presidents, Chun and Roh, later faced court proceedings and ultimately convicted.

Strengthening Human Rights Policy and Educational Effort

From 1996, the new movement for improving the quality of life and human rights took varied forms. Besides trying state criminals and reestablishing constitutional order aright several are notable.

First, a new movement for empowering women was launched. Amidst the environment of reconstruction, so far the issue of gender roles in the context of social equality has remained safely shielded behind economic or political debates. Clearly, people in contemporary Korea are experiencing changes in attitude and perceptions of gender roles. Quite recently the government established a new personnel recruitment policy by introducing a quota system for women who apply for government posts.

Secondly, in 1995 there appeared a second national association of trade unions which is prohibited from the government's viewpoint. However, the establishment of this de facto rival national association of trade unions seems to open a new era of allowing multiple trade unions.

Thirdly, a new ruling on the National Security Law was rendered recently in a district court which interpreted the scope of the law in a narrow and negative way. The accused was indicted on a charge of benefiting and advocating for North Korea by communicating with North Korean people and publishing a material on socialist system. The court rejected the charge on the ground that it could not find any criminal intent on the accused in his simple activity of communicating with North Koreans and publishing a pro-North Korea book.

Though there are plenty of norms and principles on human rights and democracy and hopeful signs of development, still lacking is their effective implementation through the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for the protection of human rights. Greater efforts will be needed in monitoring and correcting human rights infringements on the part of human rights advocates and private civil rights organizations.
(References omitted due to space limitation)

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一般財団法人アジア・太平洋人権情報センター

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Cultural Values and Human Rights : the Korean Perspective | ヒューライツ大阪

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Byung-Sun Oh - Sogang University, Seoul (This article is a short version of the research paper from South Korea included in the book "Human Rights in Asian Cultures - Continuity and Change", 1997 published by HURIGHTS OSAKA. - Editor's note.)

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For topic 1 i'm going to find facts about south Korea, culture/traditions and find out why people want to be apart of of the culture.