Top 10 Most Surprising Things About South Korea

Just as with any major life event, we approached our Seoul adventure with a certain set of expectations. Because we are planners, we did a lot of research about what to expect and how to acclimate to life here. We are also seasoned travelers and were prepared to experience those things you can’t plan for. We learned when we lived in Canada that even moving to a neighboring country comes with its share of complications. Indeed, every time we have traveled overseas something unexpected has happened.

Plan as much as you like, but there will always be surprises! Here are some of the things – both pleasant and unpleasant – that have surprised us during our first three months in South Korea (August-October 2020).

1. Most foods are not that spicy

From everything I read, I thought we’d encounter a ton of really spicy food here. Although we eat some spicy foods, I would classify our tolerance as “moderate.” We are not most likely to bite into a chili pepper. However, we have yet to encounter a food here we can’t eat due to spiciness, though some have tested us a bit. Actually, we’ve been more surprised that the level of sweetness in many foods is greater than expected. From marinated beef to pickled vegetables to beverages – and even potato chips – lots of items here taste very sweet to us.

2. Learning a little Korean is a must

I started learning to read Hangeul and to memorize some basic vocabulary long before we knew for certain we would be able to come to Seoul for the year. It makes me really anxious to travel without at least some basic language skills, plus I think it’s unfair to put all the burden on the non-English speaker to accommodate, so I wanted to start learning early. Even at that, building my skills has been frustratingly slow. A lot of it is improving my ear training as the Korean language is spoken really quickly, and many basic words sound similar to each other.

We’d heard that in Seoul especially, we’d likely encounter lots of Koreans who spoke good English and would want to practice their English rather than expecting us to speak Korean. We have seen some of this, especially among younger Koreans, but there are still plenty of folks who aren’t as comfortable with English and seem to appreciate our efforts to speak basic Korean. When we walk into a store or restaurant, it is just as likely that no one will speak English, and we’d better have our Korean phrases handy!

We occasionally see some pretty hilarious translations of Hangeul to English. We spotted these signs near a military zone in Anmyeondo.

There has been a big push from the Korean government to teach the Korean language (Hanguk-eo) around the world. This is seen as a strategy to increase Korea’s cultural and economic influence in the world. Hallyu, the “Korean wave” that includes exports of K-pop, movies, TV shows, and cuisine, is revered for the international attention it has brought to Korean culture. It’s no surprise, then, that Koreans really want visitors to learn and use their language.

3. Chaos on the sidewalks

Here is a cultural norm I cannot figure out, so if you’re a person who can shed light please leave a comment! I cannot figure out what side of the sidewalk to walk on, or how to turn aside appropriately when a Korean person is coming straight towards me. It seems that if I go right, so do they, and if I go left, so do they. (Although maybe there is a slight tendency to stay to the left here?) There are arrows at many crosswalks specifying which side goes left and which right, but almost no one observes them.

This mystery is equally perplexing when someone on a bicycle, scooter, or motorbike is headed towards me, and they are as likely to be on the sidewalk as on the street. (Expounding on my feelings about the motorbikes driving on crowded sidewalks would take more space than this post will allow!) Walking in the city feels to me like one giant game of chicken. Mostly, I try to find someone walking ahead of me and follow them as closely as I can without being weird!

The photos below were all taken in our neighborhood, typically after the vehicle pictured had just hurtled past me on the sidewalk. Seriously – the motorbikes are so fast I can’t even catch them in action!

4. The grocery store is the scariest place

I did not anticipate that trips to the grocery store would cause me more panic than nearly any other activity. There’s just so much going on! Too much noise with music playing, registers beeping, helpful ladies at the end of every aisle calling out for shoppers’ attention to sample a product… Add to that the number of products on crowded aisles I don’t know or understand, and visits to the store were overwhelming for a good while. Thank goodness there are at least aisle markers in English at the large store I often visit. I am happy to report that although it took many weeks, I can now visit the grocery store without stress. On most visits I buy one new thing to try, and other than that I stick to my list so I don’t get overwhelmed. Not only am I not scared anymore, but now I think it’s kind of fun to go.

Although lots of brands we know from home are available here, we have discovered that they very seldom are the same as the products we know and love. For example, I am not a big lover of chips, but Peter is a chip connoisseur. I have it on his good authority that Doritos in Korea are not the same as the U.S. version. He says they are much less salty, sweeter and less cheesy in Korea. Similarly, we have had a hard time finding really good chocolate here. Even Milka, a chocolate which I love in Europe, does not taste like Milka here. It is less rich, more sweet, and more waxy than the European version.

5. Eating out is inexpensive

We’ve been pleasantly surprised about the food prices here when eating out. We’ve had some really large, nice meals for prices we thought were extraordinarily low. Eating out is a huge part of culture here, and now we understand how this can be so. In general, it’s not expensive!

Prices at the grocery store, however, are not so cheap. Prices for fresh produce seem especially high. Some things would probably be cheaper if we bought them at a traditional market. Now that I am over my grocery store anxiety, maybe I will edge into the world of market shopping anxiety?

You may remember the Mandu Beef and Vegetable Stew we had at a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Seoul? It cost a total of 52,000 KRW, about $45.50 USD. Or the seafood Gekukji we had in Anmyeondo, along with all those side dishes? That meal cost 30,000 KRW/person, about $26.50 USD/person. More than you’d pay for a fast food meal out, but great value for the quality and quantity of food. And these the most expensive meals we’ve eaten here.

6. Public transportation is easy to use and really cheap

One of the best things about our little apartment is that there are stations for two different subway lines within a five-minute walk. This makes it extremely easy to travel around the city. The subway and bus systems are integrated, making transfers between transit lines simple. A T-Money card can be pre-loaded with funds to use on all transit vehicles, including taxis. And our newer favorite – a Korean bank card will scan to get you onto any transit vehicle and debit the fare straight from your bank account.

The transit signs are mostly in both Korean and English, although on some lines we have sometimes found that signs and announcements for stops are in Korean only. This means you have to pay very close attention so as not to miss your stop. The most popular South Korean navigation app, Naver, generally has good transit directions that are easy to follow. Even I, the directionally challenged, have now taken multiple subway and bus lines by myself, and because Naver is so helpful even transfers don’t freak me out.

Most rides on the bus or subway cost $1,250 KRW, which is equivalent to just over $1 USD. Depending on the distance you’re traveling, you can generally get multiple transfers for this price or just a little extra. The Korean intercity buses we’ve taken to travel to other provinces have cost about $34,000 KRW/person for a roundtrip, about $30 USD. Hard to beat!

7. Foreigners are a super-minority

South Korea historically has been known as a culturally and ethnically homogenous country, although the number of foreigners living in Korea is on the rise. (The word commonly used in Korea for a non-Korean visitor or resident is “foreigner,” so I will use the term here.) While fewer than 1 million foreigners were living in South Korea in 2010, by early 2020 that number had risen to 2.5 million, about 4.9% of the nation’s total population. Although interestingly, more than a quarter of these were Chinese citizens who are ethnically Korean. About 6% of the 2.5 million were classified as Americans.

By some measures, a country is considered a multicultural society when the number of foreigners exceeds 5%, meaning that South Korea still has not met this threshold. For comparison, immigrants account for almost 14% of the U.S. population. However, by 2040 it is anticipated that nearly 7% of South Korea’s population may be non-Korean. In a 2019 survey by the Seoul Metropolitan government, 57.3% of foreign residents in Seoul reported experiencing discrimination based on their nationality, 41.5% based on their Korean language skills, and 15.6% based on their skin color. A recent report from Statistics Korea cites the need for the country to make more intentional efforts to end discrimination against non-Koreans, especially for non-Korean children in the Korean education system.

Meanwhile, COVID concerns have caused tourism numbers to nosedive. According to Yonhap news agency, only 970,000 visitors to South Korea were documented in the second quarter of 2020, compared to 4.6 million in the same period of 2019. With few tourists to swell the existing numbers of foreign residents in South Korea, the number of non-Koreans we see is negligible. We don’t think we are imagining that we get some stares, especially in crowded places like the subway. As I may have mentioned, we don’t exactly blend. Indeed it is so unusual now to see non-Koreans even in Seoul that when we see other people who are clearly non-Korean, we sometimes catch ourselves staring!

8. Koreans might not ever sleep, except on the subway

This is a work hard/play hard culture! Although statistics vary, it seems that most Koreans report sleeping fewer than 6 hours/night, and Korean students have reported getting even less sleep. This definitely seems to be a more night-centric culture, as we have found anytime we go somewhere before 10am we are liable to have the place to ourselves. The bars across the street from our apartment certainly go strong every night of the week until at least midnight, and on many nights much later. Many Koreans also work 6 days/week and spend more than 8 hours/day in the office.

In 2018, the government did take steps to shorten the average workweek, now allowing a maximum work week of 52 hours instead of the previous 68. Korean employees average 2,069 hours per worker annually, the second-highest among the Economic Cooperation and Development states. In the United States, the average is 1,783 hours annually. The government aims to improve work/life balance in South Korea to help remedy the country’s rapidly falling birth rate.

A common sight: people of all ages sleeping on the Seoul subway. We could take photos of at least one person sleeping on every trip. We speculate that this is how everyone catches up on their missed sleep.

9. Attitudes about the U.S. vary widely and are on full display

Maybe because we live in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, we regularly see political action in the form of public protests. While large gatherings are currently not allowed, lots of small actions including one to ten or so people take place every day. Some, of course, have nothing at all to do with the United States. Others, though, focus on the military role of the U.S. in South Korea, with some favoring deeper U.S. involvement and others advocating for the U.S. to turn over more control of military operations to South Korea. There are lots of American flags displayed at these protests. Some revere the U.S. as the main ally who came to South Korea’s aid during the Korean War, and others are still angry that the U.S. played a prominent role in dividing the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel after WWII.

I’ve written about some of this before, but I think it bears repeating. There is not a huge focus on U.S news in Korean media. However, the majority of U.S. news in Korean media seems to focus on the impact of U.S. policies on North Korean/South Korean relations and Chinese trade agreements. South Korea gets stuck between the U.S., an important military ally, and China, an important trade partner. Some Koreans favor the Trump-style engagement with North Korea in hopes that engagement will lead to reunification, although many have been disappointed that diplomatic talks have not continued. Some favor the presumed Biden policy, which would be “working-level diplomacy” with greater attention to sanctions, denuclearization, and North Korea’s human rights violations. This could place U.S. policy at odds with Seoul, however, as the national government currently favors deeper engagement with Kim Jong-un.

10. Managing COVID-19 successfully is not magic

Before we arrived in South Korea, I couldn’t visualize how in the world they were managing COVID successfully. Based on my experiences at home in Philadelphia, it seemed impossible that any country was able to keep the virus from spreading rapidly, hospitals below capacity, and the death rate low. I wondered if South Korea somehow had been able to “move on” from focusing so deeply COVID? It seemed like magic.

Now that I can see what’s happening here, it’s easier to understand that this is not magic, nor has the country been able to ignore COVID. Instead, it’s a society that overall believes that COVID is a real disease that poses a real threat, and everyone is bought into stopping it. Far from shutting the economy down, most businesses here have never been closed. Even when numbers went up in September, restaurants were still open for indoor dining.

Staying open is possible because at all other times, the entire public are wearing masks. Large, high-risk events are still not happening in person, but smaller gatherings are safe because the infection numbers are monitored and reported every day through contact tracing. If any activity is found to be unsafe, it is closed for a period for weeks. Everything else is allowed to stay open unless found to be unsafe. Ubiquitous testing is the key to making such determinations quickly.

Of course, there are still sectors that are suffering from business that is less than usual, such as the tourist industry. South Korea will not be unscathed by this pandemic, but it is weathering it far better than most. It’s not using magic. It’s following science and common sense.