21 Extraordinary Facts About Korea

As I’m getting close to my one-year mark of living in Korea, I have decided to make a list of some interesting facts I have learned about the country I now call home. Hope you will enjoy 🙂

1. People in Korea take education very seriously. Intelligence is generally prized the most out of all other traits.
2. Koreans believe that the son of a woman who became a bear was the founder of their country.
3. In South Korea is home to the most visited Christian church in the world – the Full Gospel Church receives about 20 thousand parishioners every week.
4. South Korea is one of the five largest automakers in the world and also ranks first in ship construction.
5. Seoul National University staff were the first scientists to successfully clone a dog.
6. In South Korea, there are more than two dozen national parks.
7. The largest building in ground area on the Korean Peninsula is the ex-residence of the President of South Korea, which is called the “Blue House”.
8. Video game competitions, and the very concept of eSports, originated in South Korea.
9. Korea is the origin of the martial art of taekwondo.
10. South Korea is the largest consumer of hard alcohol in the world. There are even special “hangover soups”, most made with pork broth.
11. South Koreans are extremely negative about red ink – it is believed that if you write a person’s name in red, misfortune or even death awaits him in the near future. The reason for this superstition is that earlier the names of the dead were written in red on documents.
12. In South Korea, there is a special handshake culture, according to which you can only greet with one hand your peers or close friends, and to greet respected or older people, you must use both hands and bow slightly.
13. In South Korea, private educational institutions are widespread, and the quality of education is very high. Parents of Korean students annually spend $17 billion on their offspring’s education. Teaching is a prestigious profession, a really good teacher in a private school can earn several million a year.
14. Despite external prosperity, South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
15. The city of Suwon has an unusual amusement park entirely dedicated to toilets. You can visit this place for free.
16. In South Korea, plastic surgery is very popular – many parents give their daughters a trip to the surgeon as a graduation present. One of the latest fashion trends is the artificial lifting of the corners of the lips, which creates the illusion of a permanent slight smile.
17. South Korean scientists have developed a special robot to fight jellyfish that interfere with fishing and tourism.
18. Almost the entire population of South Korea (90%) has some vision problems from birth.
19. South Koreans believe that the essence of a person is closely related to his or her blood type. Based on this indicator, a decision is often made about the success or failure of the marriage.
20. South Korea has its own system for calculating the age of a person – in this country, it is customary to count the year spent by the child in the womb, and then add the age with each calendar change of the year.
21. The most common Korean surname is Kim.

Hope you enjoyed and learn something new about this beautiful country! If you are planning to travel to South Korea for the first time, Click Here for 5 facts about Korea you should know before your visit.