Culture

Hospitality of Koreans

South Korea, also known as the Eastern Land of Courtesy because of its location at the Eastern Asia, is known for their friendliness and hospitality towards other people. It is sometimes considered to be lucky for one to have a Korean friend because of how hospitable they are and how attentive they are towards their friends.

Leppert (1996) stated that they do not forge friendships instantly upon first meeting. Koreans take friendship seriously and they feel obligated towards their friends (p.71). As such, once a friendship is forged, it will be a long-lasting one. When you become a friend of theirs and start to be recognised as a person that will be “in” their life, which is when a Korean will be really kind towards a person.

Reciprocity in Korea

In South Korea, people practices reciprocity, especially the businessmen. Reciprocity means reciprocation or mutual exchange. It can be in form of presents, treats or favour. For example, when people do a favour for them, the Koreans will feel that they are in debt of you and they would reciprocate by giving you a form of advantage or privilege as a corresponding response to your favour. This is related to Confucianism and the ethics of reciprocity in Korea.

No men are equal & Confucianism

In South Korea, there is a form of “hierarchy system” in which people behaves and act towards each other. For example, the word brother is not found in the Korean language. Only elder brother (“hyeong”) or younger brother (“dongsaeng”) can be found. They address each other with initials that depend on the working position of the person or age of the person. A subordinate will address his or her manager as Manager Lee instead of Mr Lee because of his position in the hierarchy of the working environment. A younger male would address an elder male along with his status, “hyeong” instead of his name itself. This is considered as a form of respect.

The origination of such behaviour is due to the fact that South Korea is a Confucian society. This means that they practice the ethics of Confucianism. Teachings of Confucianism are actually ethics and philosophies that originated from a Chinese called Confucius. From the Teachings of Confucius, a system of ethics was practiced, which stress the obligations of human relationship between one another.

Confucianism stresses several elements for example like integrity, filial piety, respect for age and seniority, and sincerity.