The threads behind everyday Korean life
Families, history, and social ideas.
Guides
The most-read decode guides, from K-pop and chaebol to the etiquette and history that come up most.
K-Pop by Generation
The four generations of K-pop, the groups that defined each, and how the industry actually works.
Read guideThe Chaebol Families, Decoded
Who really owns Samsung, Hyundai, and LG, and how a handful of families shape the Korean economy.
Read guideThe Korean Age System
Why your Korean age may differ from your real age, and what the 2023 law change actually settled.
Read guideNunchi and Jeong
The two ideas that explain the most about Korean social life, from reading a room to lasting bonds.
Read guideKorean Etiquette, Decoded
How age and relationship set the rules: greetings, table manners, drinking, home visits, and gifts.
Read guideKorean BBQ Etiquette
Who grills, who pours, and the small table manners that show you know what you are doing.
Read guideThe Gwangju Uprising, Decoded
What happened in May 1980, why it still defines Korean politics, and how to understand its memory.
Read guideModern Korean History 101
From division to democracy in one read: the century that produced the Korea you live in now.
Read guideThe Korean Office Hierarchy
Titles, seniority, and the unwritten rules that govern a Korean workplace.
Read guideKkondae (꼰대), Decoded
The word Koreans use for the senior who lectures and will not listen, and what it says about hierarchy.
Read guideMore to decode
Holidays, social customs, and the deeper structural stories behind modern Korea.
The Korean Zodiac
The twelve animals, what your year says, and where the zodiac still shows up.
Read guideKorean Lunar Holidays
Seollal, Chuseok, and the lunar calendar behind Korea's biggest holidays.
Read guideKakaoTalk Culture
The app that runs Korean social life, and the etiquette that comes with it.
Read guideKorean Drinking Culture
Hoesik, pouring rules, and how to take part (or opt out) gracefully.
Read guideSaju, Explained
Korean fortune-telling by birth pillars, and why people still take it seriously.
Read guideAfter the IMF, Decoded
How the 1997 crisis reshaped Korean work, family, and the social contract.
Read guideElderly Poverty, Decoded
Why one of the world's richest countries has its highest elderly poverty rate.
Read guideThe Gender Pay Gap, Decoded
The numbers behind Korea's gender pay gap and the forces that keep it wide.
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