About Unwritten Korea

Every culture runs on rules nobody writes down. In Korea those rules decide who pours the drinks, when a "maybe" means no, why a stranger asks your age, and how much cash goes in a wedding envelope. Koreans learn them growing up. Everyone else usually learns them by getting one wrong.

Unwritten Korea explains those rules, and more importantly the reasons behind them: history, language, economics and the very fast changes of the last few decades. We write for people who meet Korea up close: visitors, new coworkers, international students, people dating or marrying into a Korean family, Korean-heritage readers abroad, and fans who want to understand what is happening in a drama scene.

How we write

• The why, not just the rule. A list of dos and don'ts is easy to find. We try to explain where a custom came from and how it is changing.
• Patterns, not stereotypes. Korea has 51 million people. Customs vary by family, region, generation and personality, and we say so.
• No invented characters. We do not make up "my Korean friend" stories. Scenes in our articles are written in the second person ("you") as illustrations, and facts come from named sources.
• Sources on every article. Numbers, laws and historical claims are linked at the bottom of each page. Read how we check facts.

Who is behind it

Unwritten Korea is an independent site run from Seoul by a small team that works with Korean families, students and educators every day. We use AI tools to help research and draft, and every article is checked against sources and edited by a person before it goes live. We are not affiliated with any government body or tourism agency.

Ideas, corrections or a custom you want explained? Write to [email protected].