What cultural etiquette should I know for Seoul?

Seoul runs on a social hierarchy that's visible the moment you step into a restaurant or an office lobby. Age determines who pours drinks, who sits first, who walks through the door ahead of everyone else. The bow — a slight dip of the head and upper body — is the default greeting. You'll see it everywhere: convenience store clerks, taxi drivers pulling away from Gwanghwamun, businesspeople crossing at Gangnam Station. The depth matters. A casual head nod works for peers and quick encounters. A proper 45-degree bow is for meeting someone's parents or a company senior for the first time. When you're handed something — a receipt at the GS25, a business card in Teheran-ro, change at Namdaemun Market — receive it with both hands. One hand feels dismissive here in a way that takes getting used to.

The red ink rule catches almost every visitor off guard. Writing someone's name in red is associated with death — it's how names were recorded on funeral registers and ancestral tablets. That pen they hand you at immigration? Use the blue or black one. Chopstick placement is the other big one: never stick your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice. It mirrors the incense sticks placed in rice bowls at funerals and ancestral ceremonies. Lay them across the bowl or on the chopstick rest. Blowing your nose at a restaurant table is considered quite rude — step outside or use the restroom. And if someone older hands you a soju glass, take it with both hands and turn your head slightly to the side when you drink. That small turn is the whole gesture. Skip it and you'll get a raised eyebrow from everyone at the table.

Tipping doesn't exist in the traditional Korean service model. Restaurants, taxis, hotels — the price is the price. Leaving cash on a table at a bibimbap joint in Jongno will get you chased down the street by the owner waving your money. High-end international hotels are the one exception, and even there it's not expected. Shoes come off at the threshold of any home, most traditional restaurants with floor seating, and temple buildings. Jjimjilbangs and some guesthouses keep shoe lockers at the entrance. The subway priority seats — marked for elderly, pregnant, and disabled passengers — stay empty even on packed rush-hour Line 2 trains. Sitting in one as a healthy young person will earn pointed stares and sometimes a direct scolding from an older passenger.

Soju culture deserves its own briefing. When drinking with Koreans, never pour your own glass — someone else does it, and you pour for them. The youngest person at the table usually does the pouring for everyone else. When an elder refills your glass, hold it with both hands. Turning your head away while drinking in front of someone older is the standard sign of respect. Drinking culture is central to Korean business and social life. Refusing a drink from a superior can feel awkward, but saying you don't drink for health reasons is now widely accepted. At barbecue restaurants, the most junior person typically manages the grill. If someone wraps a piece of meat in lettuce and hands it to you, eat it — it's a gesture of care called ssam, and refusing would be odd.