Quickly growing economies in Asia are referred to as "tigers", referring somewhat to them pouncing out of nowhere. Prior to the mid-1950s, Korea was an agrarian country with little in the way of infrastructure.

After the US-China war Korea was rebuilt under the rule of American administrators much like those in Iraq in 2004. (Often mislabelled the "Korean war", the two Korean armies fought, but only under the impetus of the two occupying nations. Witness the South Korean army's collapse from the 38th parallel to Pusan within a week before the US entered the conflict.) If you consider Iraq to be a poor comparison, ask Koreans about the Noh Gun Ri massacre (mentioned in Part 9b: Anonymity and Unanimity) of 2,000 unarmed Korean civilians by US soldiers in 1950.

With massive bank loans from Japan and American direction, the country went through a rapid conversion from farming to industrialization. Before World War II, the land south of the Han River in Seoul was completely undeveloped. It was reserved for the dead, which makes one wonder what happened to all the gravesites. (Koreans will never admit to help from the Japanese, but the reality is their economy, even today, is built on Japanese banks and trade. The Korean economy is as dependent on Japan as Canada is on the US.)

The country grew so fast that Korean attitudes had to change to new realities. They changed, but not because the public accepted it. Rather, they changed because the government dictated it from above and the general public accepted their dictums. (This is very much like the sort of dictating you hear from Kim Jong Il.) The government said, "This is how we will behave," and Koreans went along with it. (See Part 9b: Anonymity and Unanimity about Korean groupthink.)

In a country that needed a concerted effort from everyone to grow economically and industrially, this ability to turn on the workforce like a tap helped. Unfortunately, nobody bothered to turn it off. Now Korea is a culture obsessed with ppalli, ppalli! (hurry, hurry!), a singlemindedness and haste for one's own interests that are often put ahead of the interests, safety, and well being of others.

Common courtesy is commonly curtailed

Whether driving, working, walking, getting on or off the subway, Koreans push and shove, and generally force their way through. Amazingly, unlike North America I have never seen an instance of "road rage". Koreans simply accept without complaint what westerners would consider rude or inconsiderate behaviour.

As I said in Part 9b: Anonymity and Unanimity, Koreans ignore the presence of others to create a make-believe privacy. Part of this "privacy" is the notion that "strangers don't exist". While it does let Koreans lose their self-consciousness, it also leads to a culture of self-absorption. Selfishness and self-concern without thought for others have become a way of life.

On a sidewalk, two Canadians or other foreigners, even here in Korea, will each move slightly to the side and give the other person room. Koreans don't, they will bump into each other. In some cases, deliberately (see Part 9a: Understanding the Korean Mentality) to show dominance and social status. But usually, a Korean simply expects the other person to step aside for their own need and hurry, and often the other Korean is thinking the same thing.

Try getting in and out of the subways. The doors are open for at least 12 seconds at every station, and despite campaigns by the government telling people to stand aside from the doors and let people out, Koreans don't wait. Those leaving the subways are often forced to squeeze out between those trying to get in.

(I once saw a woman in a wheelchair attempting to leave the subway and she was pushed back in by other Koreans. She was trapped on board until the next station where I helped her switch trains and get back to her station. Again at that next station, Koreans were trying to push her wheelchair back into the train without any concern for her needs. She only got out because I was there to help.)

What some westerners find most distressing and annoying about Korean behaviour is the unresponsiveness to westerners showing courtesy, such as saying please and excuse me. Even when you say them in Korean they have no effect - Koreans will not step aside and give you room to pass because you are a stranger, and strangers do not exist within the culture. (And your being a foreigner may also by why they don't move. Read Part 9a: Understanding the Korean Mentality.) You are often forced to push Koreans out of the way after asking politely, and these same people will become angry at having been pushed.

"Safety is a silly foreign concept"

Another terrible side effect of the "ppalli ppalli" mentality is the lack of concern for the safety of others. During 2002 in Seoul alone, 500 pedestrians were killed by drivers, more people than were killed by any other type of traffic fatality.

Running red lights, honking and accelerating through crosswalks even when the walk light is on, driving on the sidewalks, speeding down back alleys, pushing pedestrians with bumpers who did not run after the driver honked are all common driving behaviours in Seoul.

This is not just limited to cars. Scooter drivers who deliver food will ride on sidewalks at breakneck pace, often knocking people over. I have been hit myself and in some cases braced myself so the scooter driver took the worst. This is not about me being unwilling to move. When one is between two walls only a metre apart, it is rather difficult get out of the way of a speeding motorcycle whose driver has no intention of slowing down.

It is in fact illegal for scooters and motorcycles to be on the sidewalk, yet the police do not enforce the law even when it happens in front of them. You are left with one of two options: dodge the scooter or become the aggressor (i.e. knock him over). Neither option is desirable.

Forethought is an afterthought

Again, when the blindness to the presence of others is combined with hurried self-interest, the actions of Koreans can have negative effects on those around them and Koreans are unconcerned about these effects until confronted. And since most Koreans will not confront others, most continue what they are doing.

A good example is happened in the fall of 2003 near my home. A house was being refurbished and the old roof tiles (kiln-hardened clay, each weighing roughly two kilograms) were being removed and dropped six metres from the roof of the house into the metal bed of a truck. Needless to say, the noise created by each brick was deafening, and this was at 7:00 AM. I somehow managed to ignore the noise for about five minutes before dressing and asking them to stop. (Interestingly, no Koreans were willing to complain about the noise until I did, even though most were already awake and heard every noise. More of the Korean "saving face".)

It was only because of complaints that the repairmen erected their slide for the bricks to reduce the noise. They already had a slide and knew what kind of noise the bricks would make, yet they did not set it up before they started working. These men were not mentally deficient or deaf. They knew how much the noise they were creating. They did it because they were not concerned with the effects of their actions on people around them.

For them, forethought was an afterthought.

This is not just about home construction. Double parking on streets, changing lanes without signaling, leaving shopping carts in the middle of an aisle, blocking sidewalks or staircases, and things in many other situations where westerners would avoid inconveniencing others. Koreans do not change their behaviours until someone complains (remembering that Koreans don't complain to "save face") or does something about it.

For those who come to Korea, realize that what we see as inconsiderate behaviour is perfectly acceptable to Koreans because of the anonymity of strangers. As I have said on other pages, I do not say this to criticize but to inform. It is easier to hold one's tongue when something was expected, even if it is someone one doesn't like.

In closing

Having described the three basic motivations behind the actions of Korean people, I will now move onto part four of this section, Part 9d: The Abnormal Korean Societal Norms. When I say abnormal, I use it more as a play on words than as criticism. But be aware: many things which Koreans think and do everyday and consider normal may be behaviours you find appalling or silly. Remember that to Koreans, many things we do are appalling or silly.

Take note: Part 9d also contains offensive language, the only page on my site that does.