{"id":6158,"date":"2018-11-07T10:33:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T15:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/?p=6158"},"modified":"2018-12-03T12:11:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T17:11:22","slug":"the-homogeneous-culture-in-south-korea-in-evolving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/the-homogeneous-culture-in-south-korea-in-evolving\/","title":{"rendered":"The Homogeneous Culture in South Korea is Evolving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If I remember correctly, most people in Korea didn\u2019t want to standout. I once thought this common desire to blend in could encourage people to think and behave similarly. However, I am not quite sure about this thought anymore.<\/p>\n<p>When I grew up in Korea, following the <strong>\uc720\ud589<\/strong>( <strong>Yoo- Hang<\/strong>, trend) was something everybody did without a question, at least among my friends. One student in class brought a certain backpack, then everybody started to carry the same backpack next day. Although it still goes on in a subway in Korea. (Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6159\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/crowd-men-women-casserole-2152653\/\" aria-label=\"Crowd 2152653 640\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6159\" class=\"wp-image-6159 size-full\"  alt=\"Sameness in society\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/crowd-2152653_640.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/crowd-2152653_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/crowd-2152653_640-350x219.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6159\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It even seemed like most people wanted the same things in their lives; study hard to attend <strong>\uc2a4\uce74\uc774\ub300<\/strong>(<strong>Sky-dae<\/strong>, an abbreviation indicating the top universities in Korea: Seoul Univ. Korea Univ. Yonsei Univ. ) so that you can get a high- paying jobs like a doctor or a lawyer. Then you marry, have kids and live in Kangnam so you can have<strong>\uac15\ub0a8\uc2a4\ud0c0\uc77c<\/strong> life. (<strong>Kangnam style<\/strong>, like the title of Psy\u2019s song. Kangnam style usually indicates a style of prestigious wealthy people.) Happily ever after for everyone!<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know who created this perfect life frame, but I am pretty sure many Koreans have heard of it or even dreamed about this life. Even I had thought that was an ultimate solution for a happy life. Accordingly, I had been insidiously trained not to think other life paths like becoming a baker or a<strong>\ub534\ub530\ub77c<\/strong> (<strong>Ttan-Tta-rah<\/strong>, a derogatory word to indicate a singer, actor or artists).<\/p>\n<p>However, I don\u2019t think this perfect little life in a frame sounds so appealing to younger generations in Korea, because Korean society is rapidly changing. In fact, this change brings noticeable differences in every aspect of the culture.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to crazy <strong>\uad50\uc721\uc5f4<\/strong>(<strong>kyo-uk-yeol, <\/strong>extreme enthusiasm of getting higher education), there are now over 2 million foreigners living in Korea. I hardly ever remember seeing a foreigner when I was young. Nowadays foreigners are easily spotted, even in small towns in Korea. It really surprises me when I watch foreigners who speak near perfect Korean on TV shows. The concept of <strong>\ub2e8\uc77c\ubbfc\uc871<\/strong> (<strong>Dan-il-min-jok<\/strong>, a homogeneous race) might be an outdated notion.<\/p>\n<p>Koreans seem to embrace and respect the differences between individuals. Different life choices are more acceptable than ever, such as a living as a single. Koreans can choose not to marry at all or be a <strong>\ub3cc\uc2f1<\/strong>(<strong>dol-sing<\/strong>, it literally means a single who came back from a marriage.) <strong>\uc194\ub85c <\/strong>, a business trend that targets single people) obviously supports<strong>\ud63c\uc220<\/strong> (<strong>hon-sul,<\/strong> a single person who drinks alone) <strong>\ud63c\ubc25<\/strong>(<strong>hon-bob<\/strong>, a single person who eat meal alone) <strong>\ud63c\uc601<\/strong>(<strong>hon-young,<\/strong> a single person who watches movie alone) and<strong>\ud63c\ud589<\/strong>(<strong>hon-hang<\/strong>, a single person who travels alone). This represents that being a single is not a taboo any more.<\/p>\n<p>Most of all, I consider changes in life values to be the most positive thing in the society. The effort to increase the quality of life is more pronounced than ever. For example, the Korean government has recently reduced the maximum working hours from 65 hours to 52 hours. <strong>\ub3d9\ud638\ud68c(dong-ho-hoe, <\/strong>a club, similar to Meetups) is a prevailing culture among adults. People join\u00a0<strong>\ub3d9\ud638\ud68c\u00a0<\/strong>to share their interests and passion for life other than just working their bottom off at work.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6160\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/art-borders-boy-child-chromatic-2026073\/\" aria-label=\"Art 2026073 640 1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6160\" class=\"wp-image-6160 size-full\"  alt=\"diversity in korea\" width=\"640\" height=\"320\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1.png 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1-350x175.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6160\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1-350x175.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"diversity in korea\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1-350x175.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/art-2026073_640-1.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>If I remember correctly, most people in Korea didn\u2019t want to standout. I once thought this common desire to blend in could encourage people to think and behave similarly. However, I am not quite sure about this thought anymore. When I grew up in Korea, following the \uc720\ud589( Yoo- Hang, trend) was something everybody did&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/the-homogeneous-culture-in-south-korea-in-evolving\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":6160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54453,8025,8896],"class_list":["post-6158","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-korean","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6158"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6214,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6158\/revisions\/6214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/korean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}