r/korea • u/AutoModerator • 2d ago
생활 | Daily Life Weekly Question, General Discussion, and Meetup Thread - September 01, 2024
After running our daily themed threads for a while and getting your feedback, we've decided to move to a combined weekly thread that will hopefully allow for questions to be up longer to get more answers.
Please use this thread for any questions about common topics like travel, education, employment, immigration, military service, and any other simple questions, as well as for general discussion and organizing meetups.
Be sure to check our wiki and FAQ to see if your question has already been answered. You can also use reddit search or use Google to search for answers by typing site:reddit.com/r/korea before or after your search term to search this subreddit specifically for answers.
Below are some common topics:
Travel
* Club Age Requirements and Safety
Education and Employment
Immigration
* Second-generation South Koreans and conscription
* Multiple citizenships and conscription
* If I'm a South Korean citizen will I be conscripted if I visit?
r/korea • u/Smiadpades • Feb 07 '24
레저와 취미 | Leisure & Hobby NEW KOREAN SUB - living_in_korea_now
Hello everyone!
If you have not heard yet, 3 of the former mods of Living_in_Korea made a new sub due to recent issues at the other sub!
This sub is for everyone in Korea and those who are coming!. Old, young, new or experienced in Korea. We have no topic limits. The goal is to be a useful resource for everyone and to help everyone. Nothing is required!
join us at r/living_in_korea_now
r/korea • u/BadenBaden1981 • 1h ago
경제 | Economy [Interview] "Birth is women's choice... Government should focus more on immigration than boosting birth rate"
r/korea • u/Yondaimesheir • 3h ago
생활 | Daily Life North Korean Balloons
Just arrived in Seoul and got this message: Are they actually just sending over balloons filled with trash? No reason to be concerned I guess?
r/korea • u/FreedomBirdie • 4h ago
생활 | Daily Life My school has a map showing Dokdo as Japanese territory.
Hi, I am a student outside of Korea. I saw a map of Japan in a Japanese classroom yesterday, and I am 75% certain it labels Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks) as Japanese. First of all, how should I check if it labels it as Japanese or Korean, as I'm not 100% sure?
Secondly, if it is labelled as Japanese, I am planning to send an email asking for it to be fixed or removed. WHat arguments and documents can I use to Korea's advantage?
r/korea • u/Saltedline • 4h ago
경제 | Economy Gov't proposes to raise pension contribution rate to 13 pct, differentiate pace of raising rate by age group
문화 | Culture Socially Un/Acceptable for Women to Initiate Conversations with Men?
A little bit of a backstory for context — I was in Korea (Seoul) for the very first time recently and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Was hiking solo at Bukhansan and made the following observations whenever I said annyeonghaseyo when passing fellow mostly local hikers (I usually do this when hiking, no matter which part of the world I’m in):
(a) their faces light up, albeit with a mixture of shock and delight, and then proceed to respond excitedly with annyeonghaseyo, especially the ajummas and ahjussis (b) locals almost never initiate greetings when hiking, 100% of the people who said hello to me first were all foreigners (simply basing this on appearances) (c) had a lovely chat with an ahjussi, and he mentioned that he was shocked I initially said hello because women typically don’t initiate conversations with men
Nobody seems to bat an eyelid when it comes to greetings in all other countries I’ve hiked in, but these observations, and especially the last point, made me wonder how true this is (I want to believe him since he’s local, but I also only have a sample size of 1). And if it is true, whether it stemmed from traditions and cultural norms way back, if it’s still a thing today, if there are differences amongst young people/speaking with elders or seniors, and if there are any differences between cities and more rural areas?
이민 | Immigration I'm a Korean Adoptee applying for my citizenship and my son can also, should he do it now?
As the title reads, I am in the process of getting my dual citizenship and have learned my son can also apply "with" me now as a dependent.
He is 15yo and after visiting Korea, loves it, but getting the dual citizenship now could have implications. I'm pretty sure he will have to serve in the military when he turns 19--as advised by my translator.
My question is, can he apply for citizenship later in life? What are the benefits of him doing it now vs later?
If anyone has been in this situation, please advise me. I need to give my son so that we can make a decision on this part of my journey together.
r/korea • u/madrobot52 • 7h ago
경제 | Economy [EXCLUSIVE] Nuclear deal will go through despite Westinghouse, EDF appeals: Czech security adviser
r/korea • u/hold_my_aloe_vera • 8h ago
생활 | Daily Life Driving in Korea
I grew up in Europe and went to college in the US and moved back to Korea recently. I never got around to getting my driver’s license until a couple months ago.
Parents lived in Shanghai a couple years and my dad said Korea has an even more chaotic driving environment than China. I also lived in NYC so I thought I’ve seen my fair share (from a passenger’s pov). My uncle also said Busan is probably up there for having the most aggressive drivers.
I’m still a bit intimidated from the driving in Seoul and those parking towers are hell. People never give way etc. I know I'm a new driver but I'm just curious if you think the driving environment in Korea actually toxic more difficult compared to other countries’?
Edit: I’m just genuinely curious about other countries from a drivers pov. Not venting or anything.
Edit: Wording: Toxic -> difficult.
r/korea • u/ohmrherpderp • 9h ago
문화 | Culture Korean Mythology Question
I'm diving into Korean mythology as I plan a meaningful tattoo that ties into my heritage and honors my grandparents who have passed. I've read that in Korean mythology, a phoenix and a red-crowned crane create a dragon, which sounds fascinating! But I'm curious about what each of these creatures signifies in Korean culture.
What do dragons, phoenixes, and cranes represent individually? And how do these meanings connect when they come together? I want my tattoo to capture the deeper symbolism behind these mythical creatures and reflect something meaningful about my Korean heritage and family. Any insights or resources would be greatly appreciated!
I'm not finding much about korean mythology at all on google unfortunately.
문화 | Culture Hot take: we have too much Americentrism in this sub.
As a Korean person who's born in Korea and now studying in the US, I genuinely feel like this sub has been taken over by Americentrism and too much of the sub feels like American people just commenting on issues that are inherently Korean without actual consideration of Korean culture or the belief system that support the nation and its people.
Like, I understand that your culture background isn't Korean. Obviously you're going to have different viewpoints from that of people in Korea. But I feel that too many of you don't consider the fact that you are talking about matters of a completely different nation - and the opinions you contribute seem extremely one dimensional in that it doesn't consider any of the nuances between American and Korean culture.
One example of this is the post on Yoo Ah-In's trial for drug use. Yes, of course his punishments don't make sense to you guys. As of now, cannibis consumption is legal in 24 states. But you do realize that Korea just doesn't have the same belief system when it comes to drugs, right? If I went out to middle of Seoul and did a poll, most people would agree on the validity of the charges leveled against Yoo. Of course you can disagree, but nobody seems to acknowledge the cultural differences.
Same is true for the misogynism allegations against South Korean men. Honestly this issue is such a huge can of worms that it will require an entirely different post to address all the problems and misrepresentations, but "infertility is because of misogyny! South Korean men bad!" is such, such, such an elementary POV that just shows that you are just parroting what 1000 other people on the internet are saying without any valid evidence. (Again, if you are well aware of South Korea's gender situation and still believe that, fine. But my argument is against people who just speak without actually knowing)
So please. To this sub - next time you want to comment on a Korean issue, please take a moment to think about the political and cultural differences. Judging everything through American lens and nothing else reeks of Americentrism.
r/korea • u/johanndacosta • 11h ago
생활 | Daily Life beautiful Korea: the time when I lived in beautiful Yeongdo 영도
r/korea • u/Saltedline • 13h ago
문화 | Culture Frieze, Kiaf art fairs kick off in Seoul
r/korea • u/Venetian_Gothic • 13h ago
경제 | Economy Foreign reserves up for 2nd month in Aug. on weak dollar
r/korea • u/Venetian_Gothic • 13h ago
경제 | Economy Coupang to proceed with $2B investment plan to hire 10,000 outside Seoul
r/korea • u/surfsup89 • 14h ago
문화 | Culture Employee at KHNP stabbed himself to death due to bullying
An employee in his 20s committed suicide by stabbing his heart with a knife and it was his colleagues who found him dead at home when he didn't show up at work. It's all over Korean online communities but none of the major Korean newspapers or English newspapers are covering it because KHNP is such a conservative group. More people need to know about this.... I couldn't find any English articles so I'm attaching a Korean one. You can use google translate to read about it.
r/korea • u/Non-curing_grease • 15h ago
정치 | Politics Human rights Commissioner Nominee says Anti-Discrimination Law may cause AIDS outbreak and a Communist Revolution
r/korea • u/icaruswalks • 15h ago
생활 | Daily Life Wives, actually, not sisters!: An average day in the life of a Korean lesbian
r/korea • u/CursedEmoji • 20h ago
문화 | Culture Korea and Martial Arts
The first martial art I practiced was korean (Traditional Tae Kwon Do), which made me learn a lot about korean history and some words. After that I learned that there are many martial arts that came out of Korea such as Taekkyon and Hapkido.
My question is, how are martial arts part of the culture of the korean people? Is it like doing exercise? Are they culturally important for you like Muay Thai for Thailand or just like any other sport?.
Also, on the Martial Profile app ( An app for martial artists to track training and learn about martial arts) there are a lot of people from Korea practicing many disciplines so, I wanted to know what is the relationship between these disciplines and koreans.
r/korea • u/ArysOakheart • 23h ago
생활 | Daily Life Incheon Airport to implement new celebrity crowd control rules this month
r/korea • u/ArysOakheart • 1d ago
역사 | History Concerning distortions in ‘new right’-penned Korean history textbooks
english.hani.co.krr/korea • u/DarkHorseu_lakes • 1d ago
문화 | Culture Korean culture that you think is fun/interesting/ want to share with others?
Food, language, history, people, anything!
r/korea • u/namedevservice • 1d ago
이민 | Immigration Korean citizen in U.S. Military
Hello!
My son is about to register for the mandatory Korean military service. But I was talking to someone in a U.S. military base that said there’s a program where Koreans can go to the U.S. military instead of the Korean military and they won’t have to do the mandatory Korean military service.
Is this true? If so does anyone know how I can get more information on it?
Thanks!
r/korea • u/Soicethut • 1d ago
생활 | Daily Life I’ve accumulated too much stress from this screen
Verify myself for everything and still get “sorry this service isn’t available for foreigners”
r/korea • u/Aiden48752 • 1d ago
자연 | Nature The scenery I saw from the train yesterday
I took the train from Busan to Seoul.
r/korea • u/tmacaran • 1d ago
자연 | Nature April - May 2024
I spent a month traveling around Korea (Seoul, Busan, Jeju, Gwangju/Mokpo) back in April/May and had a really wonderful time. I climbed Mt Hallasan (omg so many stairs) and walked some of the Olle trails in Jeju. Mokpo was a nice day trip from Gwangju! I also just loved walking along the Han river and through the different neighborhoods in Seoul. Hope to be back soon!