10 unusual facts about South Korea (10 photos)

South Korea - one of the most interesting countries in the world. Asia - a combination of Korean food, music and television. Boston Consulting Group from South Korea named the most promising country in the world in terms of innovation. Pretty good for a country on the world stage just something since 1948. Country Morning Calm is gaining strength, while not losing its curious traditions.

10. Alcohol



Use of alcoholic beverages - a rather important part of Korean culture. It helps people to communicate and get to know each other better. At least once a month Koreans go somewhere with your colleagues have a drink. Such gatherings are called «hoesik», and there are drunk a lot of alcohol. However, when it comes to the alcoholic beverage, there are many rules. If the person you pouring beer over your age, you should hold the glass with both hands. If you pour a drink to someone older than yourself, keep the bottle with both hands. And remember, the first drink he who over all, and in a time when the drink, turn away from him that he did not see how you drink. Even if you do not drink alcohol, you should take a glass, or think badly of you. Always leave a little drink in a glass, and never pour yourself. Also keep in mind that if the company has started to drink, it's a long time. During "hoesik" there are no restrictions in the amount of alcohol consumed. People always drink and shout "Kon-Bay!". And waking up the next morning, they can undergo treatment pork broth called "haejangguk", which means "hangover soup" that promises to rid you of unpleasant symptoms. But sooner or later the time will come again "hoesik", and if you see a bunch of businessmen trailing down the street, the cause is alcohol.

9. Red ink



Every society has its own beliefs and superstitions: when a European might be worried about black cats crossing the road he opened an umbrella and spilled salt. Koreans hate the red ink. Presumably if you write someone's name in red, the man expected to unhappiness in the near future. He may even die. So why Koreans are so afraid of red? Previously, when the South Korean died, his name is written on the tombstone in red. People believed that the red scares demons and protects the dead, but if you write the name of a living person in red, everything will be vice versa. Therefore, if you write a letter, sign a contract or something else, it is better perestrahuytes and use a black pen.

8. The correct handshake



At a meeting with Bill Gates Korean President Park Geun-hye Korean media were shocked. Many have found unacceptable behavior Gates, many newspapers and talk shows discussing his behavior, internet blew his rude gesture. So what exactly is so shocked the audience? When Gates shaking hands with the president, his left hand was in his pocket.

In South Korea, there are rules handshake, and they depend on the status of the person. Handshake one hand, as a rule, the daily action, but under certain circumstances it may be another value. If you shake hands with one another with your age or younger, you can safely do it with one hand. But if you greet someone older than you in age or position, you must do it with both hands. So if you have to shake hands with his Korean boss must also cover the top with the other hand handshake. Even better would be if you gave a slight bow, and remember that you should always look the person in the eye. Good manners are always held in high esteem, even if you're the richest man in the world.

7. The South Korean education



Students in South Korea extraordinarily smart. They are second in the world in reading and 93% of students graduated from the university, from Korea to the second place in the world for the quality of education. Where are they all so smart? This is all due to the "hagwons."

"Hagwons" - private educational institutions, they are almost always open, even when the closed state. Children learn many things there, ranging from mathematics to taekwondo and even belly dancing. To the best teachers are the best students, and some of the teachers are so popular that they can earn millions of dollars a year. However, those teachers who do not perform well for a long time in the profession do not linger. It is capitalism in action, and Hagwons make good money. Parents Korean children spend 17 billion dollars a year on training.

But Hagwons there are downsides. Wealthy families can afford the best teachers, while poor families should be content with little. Moreover, classes are held in the afternoon, so the children go to school twice a day and return home mentally and physically tired. Even the Korean government passed a law that class should not end later than 10 pm, because students need to rest. Indiscriminate desire to learn is associated with a state exam. If the student passes the exam well, he can go to a good college, if not, he will have to learn in the second-class school. No wonder that in Korea the highest suicide rate. Well all this or not? This question can be answered only by the students themselves.

6. Korean-Japanese rivalry



Many countries have a friendly rivalry, for example, Australia and New Zealand, or belligerent, such as Pakistan and India. Japan and Korea are somewhere in the middle,. If they will not even send each other a nuclear weapon, the situation will still be tense.

In the past, Japan had a bad habit introduced to the Korean peninsula. After several unsuccessful attempts, the Japanese successfully conquered Korea in 1910, forcing Koreans to practice Shinto and speak Japanese. Everything went much worse during World War II, when the Japanese forced Korean women into prostitution in brothels in China.

Decades later, many South Koreans still believe that the Japanese have not apologized for military action. During the interview, about what kind of nation Koreans hate the most, the Koreans chose Japan, while North Korea scored 11.7 percent. As a result of this confrontation Koreans even the Sea of ​​Japan came to be called the East Sea.

5. Discussion on the skirts



South Korea - a very conservative country, which is why quite strange to see so many women's feet. Mini-skirts in Korea is the norm. Even business ladies usually wear a mini job. But Korea has not always been so liberal about the demonstrations feet. From 1963 to 1979, South Korea was ruled by the dictator Park Chung-hee, and his regime, women's clothing was heavily regulated. In this period was illegal to wear skirts that ended higher than 20 cm above the knee. Girls at the entrance to the school, checked linear. There were also severe restrictions on the length of the hair. Today, many fear that the country can return to the state "Fashion Police».

4. Amusement Park with a toilet theme



In a world of many strange amusement parks, but South Korea surpassed all. Suwon City boasts an amusement park with a toilet theme. The park opened in 2012 in honor of former mayor of Suwon favorite nicknamed Mr. Toilet.

The fact that the mayor was obsessed with toilets. His goal in life was to provide people with good toilets, and to teach the world to maintain them properly. Mr Sim has organized World Toilet Organization, and during the World Cup 2002, he provided all the football fans with quality toilets. On his initiative the WTO decided to build modern toilets in third world countries, for example, in the Philippines.

In 2007, Sim to build a country house in the form of toilets, which after his death in 2009 did the museum. In this so-called theme park contains all the attributes associated with the toilet. And like all the best things in life, you can visit the park for free.

3. Plastic Surgery



Everyone wants to be beautiful, especially the South Koreans. In accordance with the results of the survey in 2009, one of the five Korean women do plastic surgery, and moreover, in Korea it is not considered shameful. Even finish high school girls fall under the surgeon's knife, and often it is a gift for the parents of high school. One of the most popular Korean reality show tells the story of how "ugly" turn into "beauties". Even Miss Korea 2012 to do the operation, and all perceived normally. Plastic surgery is not only for women, men often claim that they will be successful if their appearance will change for the better.

Ideally, women want to look the same: small nose, V-shaped chin and large eyes. Nevertheless, many Koreans are paying too much for your new image. 52 percent of women say that after plastic face their skin lost its sensitivity, and was easy to chew and swallow. And one of the latest trends plastics - the creation of a smile artificially raise the corners of her mouth, which creates the illusion of a smile.

2. Bullfighting



In bullfighting in Korea no bullfighter and a red cloth. Here bull fighting bull. Ranchers are traveling across the country in search of the perfect bulls for fighting. They choose the animals with big horns, thick necks and massive body. Then bulls train and wire is inserted into the horn, forming the hooks therefrom. Such bulls as a special diet consisting of fish, live octopus and snakes.

Further bulls are brought into the arena. On the representation of present musicians, cheerleaders and spectators. Bulls lead to the amphitheater, each of them has a name written on the side. With ropes they attract each other and the battle begins. Fortunately, not shed a lot of blood, and the animals usually survive. The match ends when one bull leaves the arena. Therefore fights can end in a couple of seconds or continue for hours. When the battle is over, the winner takes the prize money, while losers drown his sorrows in rice wine.

1. Medusa terminators



Like the beginning of a science fiction film. The oceans are teeming with jellyfish, and a group of scientists has created a robot to deal with them. This is not a movie script, this is really happening on the coast of South Korea, and could soon spread to the whole world.

The number of jellyfish increases, and this creates a lot of problems. Swarms of jellyfish may travel hundreds of kilometers, they hinder industrial fishing and forced tourists to stay away from the coast, which also affects the economy. Only South Korea has already lost $ 300 million due to the invasion of jellyfish, and in Sweden were forced to close the nuclear power plant, as a jellyfish caught in the pipes and damaging equipment. Therefore, scientists Korea Institute of Science and Technology collaborated on the solution to this problem.

They launched a jellyfish-terminators. It robots that are jellyfish and destroy them on their way. At the main robot has programmed direction, all the others follow him, receiving a wireless signal. Robots that are on the surface of the water, hunt down their prey with the camera. As soon as they notice the object, they catch in its network and milled using multiple blades. Initially, the robot could destroy up to 900 kg of jellyfish, now this figure had risen to 2,000 scientists working on improving the robots, their task is to teach robots cope with waves and work even more efficiently. Soon coast of Korea will be exempted from the jellyfish, it's only a matter of time.

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