Korean business etiquette for your first meeting: cards, bows, seats and the dinner after

The meeting room door opens, and six people walk in at once.

You have exactly one hand free, because the other one is holding your coffee, and somehow there is also a laptop involved. Each of the six is already reaching into a jacket pocket. Out come the business cards, held out with both hands, one after another, like a very polite card trick in reverse. You receive card one with both hands (coffee now balanced on the laptop), bow slightly, receive card two, and realize you’ve lost track of which face belongs to 김 부장님 and which to 김 과장님, because there are three 김s and they’re all smiling at you.

Welcome to your first Korean business meeting. Nobody is grading you. But knowing the choreography means you can stop thinking about your hands and start thinking about the deal.

The short version: arrive early, dressed conservatively. Give and receive business cards with two hands, read the card, and lay it on the table in front of you instead of pocketing it. Bow slightly, and let the most senior person start the handshake. Address people by title + 님 (부장님, 대표님), not by first name. Let the hosts seat you; the seat farthest from the door is for the most senior person. Expect “we’ll review it” to mean many things, few of them “yes”. Say yes to dinner if you can, pace yourself if there’s drinking, and be very careful about gifts to anyone in the public sector, schools or the press: the anti-graft law caps meals at 50,000 won.

The business card ritual (명함 교환)

In Korea, the business card, 명함 (myeong-ham), is a small stand-in for you, your title and your company. How you hand it over, and how you treat the one you receive, is the first impression.

Giving your card:

• Two hands. Hold it by the top corners with both hands, or with your right hand while your left hand supports your right wrist or forearm. A one-handed flick across the table is the business-card equivalent of tossing someone your keys.
• Turn it to face them. The text should be readable from their side, so they don’t have to rotate it. If you have a Korean side, show that one.
• Say your name and company while you hand it over, and make eye contact.
• Who goes first: generally the junior person offers first. But if you’re the one visiting another company, the visitor usually offers first regardless of rank, according to the LG Display business manners guide.

Receiving a card:

• Stand up, even if the other person is junior to you.
• Receive it with two hands, and don’t let your fingers cover their name.
• Actually read it. Look at it for a moment. Many Korean etiquette guides suggest saying the person’s name and title softly to yourself. This also solves the three-김s problem.
• Don’t pocket it right away. Place it on the table in front of you for the meeting. If you’ve received several, lay them out in the order people are sitting. It’s polite, and it’s a cheat sheet.
• Don’t write on it in front of them, fold it, or fidget with it. Bending someone’s card while you think is like doodling on their face. (Jotting the meeting date on it later, back at your desk, is a different matter. Some Korean companies actually recommend it as a way to remember who was who.)

The simultaneous exchange. Sometimes both of you hold out your cards at the same time, and you end up in a slightly awkward four-handed dance. The rule of thumb: give with the right hand, receive with the left, then bring both hands together to hold the card you got.

The six-people-at-once situation? Put your coffee down first. Then go one by one, slowly, and build your little card map on the table.

Bring more cards than you think you need. Number five in the line will remember being the one who got “Sorry, I’ll email it.”

Bows and handshakes

Korean business greetings often combine the two: a slight bow plus a handshake.

• The bow. For meeting someone for the first time, a bow of about 30 degrees from the waist is standard. A deeper bow of about 45 degrees is for thanks or apologies. If you pass the same person in the corridor for the third time that day, a small nod of the head is plenty. (Do not bow 45 degrees to the same person four times before lunch. They will start to worry about you.)
• The handshake. The senior person offers the hand; the junior person waits for it. Use your right hand, and as a sign of respect you can lightly support your right forearm with your left hand. Korean juniors often bend slightly at the waist while shaking hands, which is the bow and the handshake happening at the same time. Don’t crush, don’t pump endlessly, and never shake with your other hand in your pocket.

As a foreigner, you’ll get a lot of leeway. A sincere, slightly-too-stiff bow is much better than none.

What to call people: titles and 님

This is where many foreigners trip, because in a lot of Western offices, everyone is “Mike” by the second email. In a Korean company, people are usually addressed by their title, often with their family name in front, plus the honorific -님 (-nim).

Title	Roughly	How you’d say it
대표님 / 사장님	CEO / president	대표님 (dae-pyo-nim), 사장님 (sa-jang-nim)
상무님, 전무님	Executive directors	김 상무님
부장님	Department head / general manager	박 부장님
차장님	Deputy general manager	이 차장님
과장님	Manager	최 과장님
대리님	Assistant manager	정 대리님
[Full name] + 님	Mr./Ms., when you don’t know the title	김민수 님

A few practical rules:

• Use the title on their card. That’s what it’s for. If in doubt, read it right off the card on the table.
• Never use the family name alone (“Hi, Kim!”). It sounds rough, a bit like calling your client “Hey, Johnson” across the room.
• Don’t jump to first names, even if there’s an English name on the card. Let them offer it.
• Titles are not universal. Some companies have flattened their ranks and use -님 or English names for everyone. When you’re not sure, full name + 님 is the safe default.

And yes, there’s a reason your counterparts may ask your age or seniority early on. It helps them pick the right level of speech. We explain that whole system in why Koreans ask your age.

Where to sit (and where to stand in the elevator)

Korean business culture has a concept called 상석 (sang-seok), literally “upper seat”: the place of honor. It exists in meeting rooms, restaurants, cars and, famously, elevators.

In a meeting room or reception room, the seat of honor is generally the one farthest from the door. If the room has a great view, the seat facing it can be the top spot; in a room with a screen, it’s the seat with the best view of the screen. The most junior people sit nearest the door, where they can fetch coffee, adjust the projector and run out to find the missing HDMI cable.

As a guest, wait to be seated. Your hosts will guide you, often to a good seat. If nobody says anything, hover politely on the visitors’ side until someone gestures.

In a car with a driver, the top seat is the rear seat diagonally behind the driver, then the seat next to it, then the front passenger seat. If the boss is driving their own car, though, it’s polite to sit in the front passenger seat next to them, so they don’t look like your chauffeur.

In the elevator, the seat of honor (well, the standing spot of honor) is the back corner diagonally opposite the buttons. The most junior person stands by the button panel and operates it. Which leads to the most Korean standoff of all: the elevator button standoff. Two people of roughly equal rank both reach for the “door open” button, both insist the other go first, both say “먼저 타세요” (“Please, after you”), and the doors close on both of them.

Here’s the escape hatch, straight from a Korean business manners guide: if your senior has already taken the spot by the buttons, don’t insist on moving them to the place of honor. The guide quotes an old saying, 과공은 비례 (“excessive courtesy is itself rude”), and concludes that wherever the boss wants to stand is the place of honor. Very freeing.

Small talk, punctuality and dress

Arrive early. Five to ten minutes before the start is ideal. Seoul traffic is a legendary excuse, which is exactly why nobody accepts it. If you are going to be late, message ahead, apologize, and give a new time.

Dress conservatively for a first meeting: a dark suit or smart jacket, clean shoes. Startups can be far more casual, but overdressing on day one is the smaller sin. And if dinner is at a restaurant with floor seating, your shoes come off, so wear socks that could survive a public inspection.

Small talk comes first, and it’s not wasted time. Typical openers:

• “How was your flight?” / “Is this your first time in Korea?”
• “Have you tried Korean food? What did you like?”
• “Where are you staying?”

Topics to leave alone: North Korea, Korean politics, Korea–Japan history, salary, and anything that sounds like criticism of Korea. You may get asked about your age, marital status or kids. It’s usually friendly curiosity, not an interview. Answer briefly, smile, and ask a light question back.

The meeting itself: hearing the “no” that’s never said

In many Korean meetings the most senior person says little and decides a lot, while juniors present the details. Show respect to the top person, and don’t interrupt them.

The big skill here is reading what isn’t said. Many Koreans avoid a flat “no” in front of others, especially to a guest, because it would cause both sides to lose face (체면, chemyeon). So “no” often arrives wearing a disguise:

Say / Mean: 긍정적으로 검토해 보겠습니다 (geung-jeong-jeok-eu-ro geom-to-hae bo-get-seum-ni-da) says “We’ll review it positively.” It can mean exactly that. It can also mean “This is going nowhere, but we’re too polite to tell you in this room.” The tell is what happens next: a follow-up date, a named person and a next step mean interest; vague warmth and no timeline usually mean no.

Also watch for “조금 어려울 것 같습니다” (“It looks a little difficult”), which is often a firm no, and a long pause with a sharp intake of breath through the teeth. The full decoder is in why Koreans don’t say no. The short advice is to use your nunchi, and to ask open questions in a private follow-up (“What would make this easier for your team?”) rather than demanding a yes or no across the table.

Equally, if you have to say no, soften it. “That may be difficult for us, but let me check what we can do” goes over better than “No, we can’t.”

The dinner after: 회식 and 접대

If the meeting went well, there’s a good chance of a dinner. When the hosts take a client or partner out, that’s often called 접대 (jeop-dae, entertaining a client); a dinner with your own team is a 회식 (hoe-sik). Either way, the dinner is where relationships are built. A lot of trust in Korean business is earned over grilled meat rather than over a slide deck.

The basics:

• Say yes if you can. Turning down the first dinner invitation can feel like turning down the relationship.
• Let the hosts order and seat you, and wait for the senior person to start eating.
• If there’s drinking, the pouring rules apply: pour for others, not yourself; hold your glass with two hands when a senior pours for you; turn your head slightly away when you drink in front of a senior person. All the choreography is in our Korean drinking etiquette guide.
• You don’t have to get drunk. “I have an early meeting” or “I’m on medication” is accepted. Sip slowly: an empty glass gets refilled; a half-full one says “I’m fine.”
• Who pays: the host usually pays. As a guest, offer once, graciously lose, and plan to host the next time. For how Korean restaurants and paying generally work, see Korean restaurant culture.

Gifts, and the anti-graft law

A small gift at a first meeting is a nice touch, especially if you’re visiting from abroad: something from your home country, nicely wrapped and easy to carry. Hand it over with both hands, and don’t be surprised if it isn’t opened in front of you.

But here’s the part foreigners often miss: Korea has a strict anti-graft law, the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (청탁금지법), widely known as the Kim Young-ran Act (김영란법). It covers public officials, employees of public-related organizations, teachers and staff at schools, and employees of media companies, among others. Private citizens who give prohibited gifts to these people can also be sanctioned.

As of 2026, the limits for meals and gifts offered for social, ceremonial or smooth-working purposes are:

What	Limit
Meals	50,000 won per person (raised from 30,000 won on Aug 27, 2024)
Gifts	50,000 won
Agricultural and fishery products (fruit, beef, etc.)	150,000 won; 300,000 won around Seollal and Chuseok
Congratulatory or condolence money	50,000 won (100,000 won for wreaths)

And the crucial catch: if the person has a direct stake in a decision about you (say, they’re reviewing your permit, your bid, or your evaluation), you can’t give them anything at all. Not even a 10,000-won gift, according to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s guidance as reported by Yonhap. Some restaurants even post a “Young-ran menu” (영란메뉴) priced to fit under the limit.

So if your counterpart is a journalist, a professor at a public university, a schoolteacher or a government official, keep the gift modest or skip it, and don’t be offended if they insist on paying for their own coffee. They’re not being cold. They’re being legal. Among purely private companies the law doesn’t apply, but expensive gifts at a first meeting can still feel like pressure. Modest and thoughtful wins. (Cash envelopes are a separate world: see Korean wedding money, and never bring one to a business meeting.)

After the meeting: email, KakaoTalk and the follow-up

Send a thank-you email the same day or next morning, summarizing what was agreed, with titles in the greeting (“박 부장님께”).

Then there’s KakaoTalk, Korea’s default messaging app. After a meeting, your counterpart may suggest adding each other on KakaoTalk, and a lot of Korean business really does move there. Some ground rules:

• Let them suggest it, especially with senior people. Email is still the safe channel for anything formal or with attachments.
• Write in polite, complete sentences. No “ㅋㅋㅋ”, no bare “ok”, no strings of emoji. One polite emoticon at most.
• Respect the clock. Messaging a client at 11 p.m. on a Saturday is not hustle; it’s a small invasion.
• Watch the “1”. KakaoTalk shows a little number next to unread messages. When it disappears, they’ve read it. If they’ve read it and haven’t replied, resist the urge to send “??”. Remember the indirect no.
• Your profile picture is now doing client relations. Maybe not the beach-party beer photo.

None of this will make or break a good proposal on its own. Korean businesspeople who work with foreigners expect some mistakes, and most will gently guide you. What they remember is effort: the card received with both hands, the 부장님 said correctly, the polite thank-you message the next morning. Get those right, and the six-card juggling act at the door becomes the least of your worries.