Korea is often said to be the world’s most Confucian nation, such values having been instilled for over a thousand years across several dynasties. Elements of Confucianism still linger on today – it’s still basically true that anyone older, richer or more important than you (or just male as opposed to female) is simply “better” and deserving of more respect, a fact that becomes sorely clear to many working in Korea. Perhaps most evident to foreigners will be what amounts to a national obsession with age – you’re likely to be asked how old you are soon after your first meeting with any Korean, and any similarity of birth years is likely to be greeted with a genuine whoop of delight (note that Koreans count years differently from Westerners – children are already 1 when they’re born, and gain another digit at Lunar New Year, meaning that those born on December 31 are technically two years old the next day). Women have traditionally been treated as inferior to men, and expected to ditch their job as soon as they give birth to their first child; however, recent years have shown a marked shift towards gender equality, with males more forgiving in the home and women more assertive in the workplace. Foreigners are largely exempt from the code of conduct that would be required of both parties following their knowledge of age, employment and background, and little is expected of them in such terms, but this does have its drawbacks – in such an ethnically homogeneous society, those that aren’t Korean will always remain “outsiders”, even if they speak the language fluently or have actually spent their whole lives in the country. Meanwhile, foreigners with Korean blood will be expected to behave as a local would, even if they can’t speak a word of the language.
Korea is often said to be the world’s most Confucian nation, such values having been instilled for over a thousand years across several dynasties. Elements of Confucianism still linger on today – it’s still basically true that anyone older, richer or more important than you (or just male as opposed to female) is simply “better” and deserving of more respect, a fact that becomes sorely clear to many working in Korea. Perhaps most evident to foreigners will be what amounts to a national obsession with age – you’re likely to be asked how old you are soon after your first meeting with any Korean, and any similarity of birth years is likely to be greeted with a genuine whoop of delight (note that Koreans count years differently from Westerners – children are already 1 when they’re born, and gain another digit at Lunar New Year, meaning that those born on December 31 are technically two years old the next day). Women have traditionally been treated as inferior to men, and expected to ditch their job as soon as they give birth to their first child; however, recent years have shown a marked shift towards gender equality, with males more forgiving in the home and women more assertive in the workplace. Foreigners are largely exempt from the code of conduct that would be required of both parties following their knowledge of age, employment and background, and little is expected of them in such terms, but this does have its drawbacks – in such an ethnically homogeneous society, those that aren’t Korean will always remain “outsiders”, even if they speak the language fluently or have actually spent their whole lives in the country. Meanwhile, foreigners with Korean blood will be expected to behave as a local would, even if they can’t speak a word of the language.
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