Korean Cultural Codes and Communication

Suk-hyon Kim

International Area Studies Review, 2003, vol. 6, issue 1, 93-114

Abstract: This paper, seeking to examine the aspects of Korean culture unfamiliar to foreigners, explores the relationship between Korean culture and communication. In doing so, this paper takes a look at Korean cultural codes unfamiliar to foreigners. They are categorized into: Thrift on Words, Silence and Smiling, Group-Networking(Collectivism), Chemyon, Nunchi, Kongson , Harmony of Eum and Yang, Chong and Euiri. The paper explains the relationship the above cultural codes to Korean communication styles and patterns by taking examples from the everyday life of the Koreans today. Since there are too many variations in how the cultural codes are displayed in everyday life, this paper recognizes that there may have been broad generalization and oversimplification. Nonetheless, this paper seeks to present Korean cultural codes and Korean communication in terms of current everyday life of the Korean people with the hope that foreigners can gain better insight into how Korea's cultural codes have affected its people and communication.

Keywords: Korean Culture; Korean Communication; Nunchi; Chemyon; High-Context Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:intare:v:6:y:2003:i:1:p:93-114

DOI: 10.1177/223386590300600107

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