"One Big Family, More or Less." Top 5 Page for this destination South Korea Local Custom Tip by jburron

Although Koreans can seem rough and aloof in public, they are very open toward their friends and family. Unlike in the West, a Korean will always remember how he came to know someone--either from elementary, middle, high school, university, a job or other friends. You might be told by a Korean that they know the president of a company...then they will say something like, "He is my friend from elementary school". It seems unreal, but they really do keep in touch with people surprisingly well here.

For these relationships there is the usual age hierarchy. This may extend for 20-30 years...like in the case that a 25 year-old interviews at a company and his interviewer went to the same university...they will instantly have something to talk about. This is taboo/weird in the West (for the most part) but it is the basis of many relationships here.

Of course Koreans have names for each other based on the hierarchy...the same ones that are used for family relationships:

형님/Hyung-nim: said from a younger man to an older one. Literally means 'older brother'.

언니/Eon-ni: younger lady to older lady (older sister).

누나/Noo-na: younger man to older lady (older sister).

오빠/Oh-ppa: this is NOT used willy-nilly. It means 'older brother' as said from a younger sister...but a girl will only say this to her real older brother or to her boyfriend (once married, couples call each other yeo-bo, or honey/darling). If a girl calls a guy oh-pa she is either: his younger sister, his girlfriend or a room salon girl (on the job).

The rule is that the older person should look out for and help the younger one. But, the younger person should do anything (within reason, mostly) that the older person wants. This is why many business deals and such take so many people to complete here. It takes a long time to get everyone into agreement and use the appropriate connections to apply pressure (from above) or persuasion (from below) on the decision-makers.

Website: http://langintro.com/kintro/family/direct.htm

• Updated Jan 4, 2005
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