In Korea, black symbolizes mourning, formality, and the negative aspects like darkness and death, but also mastery, the North, the Water element, and a sophisticated elegance in modern fashion, often paired with other neutral colors for balance, representing the necessary opposite of light, as seen in traditional Obangsaek (five-color system) and contemporary styles.
But the black official hat and attire of the Joseon Dynasty represent 'formality' and 'dignity,' and through the simplified black official attire and school uniforms and so on worn after the japanese occupation, it has also come to signify 'institutions' and 'rules.
Not only do the five colors represent directions: east (blue), south (red), center (yellow), white (west) and north (black), they are also said to symbolize the 'five elements of life' according to traditional Korean teaching.
Traditional norm: Koreans traditionally wear dark colors, especially black, to funerals as a sign of respect and mourning. Black is widely accepted and often preferred for both immediate family and attendees.
There are five traditional colors in Korea called the Five Colors: blue, red, yellow, white, black, which are considered lucky colors for Koreans. The Five Colors are colors derived from the philosophy of yin and yang and the five elements.
Koreans are a collectivist society and until recently quite homogeneous. They do not like to stand out and wear mostly black, white, blue. Patterns and bright colors are rare… But as a foreigner they will not make you feel odd due to your choices.
Linguistic Connection: The number 4, pronounced shi (し), is a homophone for the word shi (死), meaning death. This phonetic link has cast the number in an ominous light for centuries. Cultural Practices: Hospitals may avoid room numbers containing 4. Hotels may skip a fourth floor or room 444.
This is traditionally taboo because the color red to Koreans used to symbolize death. The belief was that if a person's name was written in red, death or bad luck would come soon.
South Korea's 52-hour work rule caps most employees' weekly working hours at 52, consisting of 40 standard hours plus 12 allowed overtime hours, aiming to reduce overwork, improve work-life balance, and boost productivity by ending excessively long workweeks previously common in the country. Implemented in phases for different company sizes, this law applies to a seven-day week, including weekends, and was a major revision to the Labor Standards Act, phasing in from 2018 to 2021 for most businesses.
The Korean diet is rich in fish, tofu, eggs and legumes. By eating little red meat, they take in lighter protein sources and less fat and calories. Lean protein promotes satiety, supports metabolism and the maintenance of muscle mass.
Stick to Black, White, & Three-Color Limits
In Korean style, there's a clear rule: Black and white are “half-colors,” while all other shades count as a full color. When you're starting out, never exceed more than three primary colors in your outfits.
What color do Korean people prefer the most? In this survey, 36% of all respondents responded that they preferred blue, showing the highest preference among the 15 colors presented.
Korean uses two number systems, Sino-Korean (il, i, sam...) for dates, money, minutes, and Native Korean (hana, dul, set...) for general counting, age, and hours; 1-10 in Sino-Korean are 일 (il), 이 (i), 삼 (sam), 사 (sa), 오 (o), 육 (yuk), 칠 (chil), 팔 (pal), 구 (gu), 십 (sip), while in Native Korean they are 하나 (hana), 둘 (dul), 셋 (set), 넷 (net), 다섯 (daseot), 여섯 (yeoseot), 일곱 (ilgop), 여덟 (yeodeol), 아홉 (ahop), 열 (yeol).
The Taegeukgi consists of a white background, a red and blue taegeuk circle in the center, and four black trigrams (collectively called geongongamri), one in each corner of the flag. The white background represents brightness, purity, and peace, qualities that are highly valued by the people.
Both analyses demonstrated genetic evidence of the origin of Koreans from the central Asian Mongolians. Further, the Koreans are more closely related to the Japanese and quite distant from the Chinese.
“Saranghae” (사랑해) means “I love you”. You can also find it in its more formal form “saranghaeyo” (사랑해요), but it's not used as often since you usually drop the formalities when talking to your loved one.
4B movement, South Korean feminist activist movement and political stance defined by four deliberate refusals: bihon (“no marriage”), bichulsan (“no childbirth”), biyonae (“no dating”), bisekseu (“no sex [with men]”).
The "3 date rule" in Korean dating refers to the common practice of establishing an official couple status (boyfriend/girlfriend) by the third date, moving from casual "talking" (sseom) to a defined relationship quickly, a faster pace than typical Western dating, allowing for deeper getting-to-know-you stages after becoming official, though it's becoming less strict with younger generations. It's about rapid commitment assessment, with the first few dates gauging chemistry before locking things down.
According to data from Statistics Korea on Monday, people in the country slept an average of eight hours and four minutes every night last year — some eight minutes less than in 2019, when the previous survey took place.
The pig symbolizes good luck, wealth, and fortune in Korean culture. If you believe in Korean superstitions and you wake up with pigs on your mind, you may have wealth, a promotion, or other good luck coming up in your future.
"ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ" or "kkkkk" is the Korean way of typing the act of laughing in text conversations.
The number 4 sounds like the hanja for "death" (사) (although Korean has no tones), so the floor number 4 or room number 4 is almost always skipped in hospitals, funeral halls, and similar public buildings. In other buildings, the fourth floor is sometimes labelled "F" (for "Four") instead of "4" in elevators.
While 4-사 and death-사 do not share the same Hanja character (4 is 四 and death is 死), they sound identical when spoken. Since they sound exactly the same, in the Korean culture, the number 4 has a fairly strong association with bad luck, and even death.
It can be either, depending on the language and context: "Gaja" (가자) is the common Korean informal word for "Let's go," though pronounced closer to "Kaja" by many, while "Kaja" is used in some Slavic languages (like Slovenian) as a name or for "effort/work," and the Italian wine brand Gaja is pronounced "Gah-yah," not "Gaja," notes a YouTube video.
1004 is a fairly popular password there, because it is one of the few 4-digit numbers that sound like actual words in Korean. 1004 sounds like "angel" (cheonsa).