Korean Culture.
Discover the rich heritage and modern lifestyle of South Korea. Explore authentic Korean traditions, K-pop, K-dramas, etiquette, and daily life insights for foreigners.
Taking the Seoul subway with a coffee in hand or a large suitcase can raise a few questions, especially if you’re visiting South Korea for the first time. The rules aren’t the same for buses and subways, and some restrictions are easy to misunderstand. Here’s what travelers should know about food, drinks, luggage, and everyday…
Korean drinking games for foreigners are easiest to learn when they require almost no Korean. Titanic, the soju bottle cap game, and the nunchi game are good places to start. Before getting into the games, there are a few drinking habits worth knowing. Pouring and Drinking Basics Nobody will stop the game if you get…
This Korean trash disposal guide for tourists comes down to two things. Public trash cans are rare, so you may need to carry small pieces of trash until you reach a subway station or convenience store. At your accommodation, general and food waste go into special government-issued bags, while recyclables are sorted by material. Most…
If you’re looking for a K-pop album store in Seoul, Myeongdong is probably the easiest place to start. Kyobo Hottracks in Gwanghwamun is another good option if you want a large selection in one place. Albums bought in Korea can also be cheaper than buying them overseas, and foreign visitors may be eligible for an…
Most of what not to do in South Korea comes down to a few habits. Don’t start eating before the oldest person at the table, don’t hand things to someone older with one hand, and don’t stand your spoon or chopsticks upright in your rice. Nobody expects a visitor to get all of it right,…
Korean Greeting Etiquette is one of those things you start noticing almost immediately when you spend time in Korea. Nobody really sits you down and explains every little greeting, but after a few days, you begin to notice the small bows, the way people shake hands, and how greetings change depending on who they’re talking…
Chuseok in Korea is a little different from what you might expect if you’re visiting for the first time. You hear about the traffic, the packed trains, and all the businesses closing, but that doesn’t really tell you what Korean families are doing during the holiday. In 2026, Chuseok falls on September 25, with the…
Everyday life in Korea is mostly just normal life to me, and I don’t notice most of these things until I try to picture a first-time visitor running into them. I’ve never really questioned them. They’re things I grew up with. So I started thinking about the ones that might make me stop and ask,…
Why Do Koreans Eat With Their Mouths Open, Slurping and Smacking? Wheoo-loop. Nyam nyam. Jjeop jjeop. Eating hot noodles without blowing on them first isn’t easy for anyone. But that combination of sounds — the slurping, the smacking, the open-mouth chewing — is something that grates on a lot of visitors, especially people who grew…
Korean Cafe Culture There’s a cafe near my place where I keep seeing the same guy by the window. I’ve probably walked past that cafe a dozen times over the last couple of weeks, and somehow he’s always in the same seat. Same laptop, same untouched glass of water next to a coffee cup that’s…
