Korean Culture, Customs and Etiquette 101

At dinner:

• When you know the person who prepared the meal, do burp afterwards (I don't know if this is only for men) to show that the food was excellent.
• Do not eat all of the food in front of you. It is insulting to your host as it implies that they have not prepared enough food for their guests. Always take more food than you can eat, and if there isn't enough food, just suffer. You must leave food on your plate.
• Kimchee is served at every meal.
• When eating at the traditional floor table, men sit cross legged and women sit with either their legs to the side or straight under the table--never cross legged.
• Never pour your own drink. Wait for someone else to pour one for you (I've messed up on this one). Once someone has poured your drink, you should return the favor and pour theirs. The host/ess never pours the drinks for his/her guests.

For your feet:

• When you enter a building (excluding public places such as stores and churches), you must remove your shoes at the door and continue in either your socks or slippers (which are actually sandals).
• Bare feet are not acceptable and most Koreans will wear socks with sandals or open toed shoes, however, this is changing among many younger women.

Meeting people:

• Few Koreans are accustomed to shaking hands upon introductions and most will simply bow after a polite hello, however, many people will greet westerners with a hand shake. When accepting a hand shake, do shake with both hands or shake with the right and support the right elbow with the left hand. This is a very polite way to greet someone that communicates that you are very honored to meet them (thus supporting the right hand because their importance is so great and heavy).
• When introduced to someone, do not offer your name unless asked or instructed to by the person who is conducting the introduction, unless this is a purposeful and planned introduction. Once you have exchanged names with another person, a relationship has been made that will sometimes place an unwelcomed burden on the other person to continue the relationship (future spent time and energy).
• When sitting in mixed company, do stand to greet those who arrive and wish to join the group. However, if a male approaches the men in the group to say hello, the women should remain seated while the men stand up to greet the man.