Koreans

I'm living in Federal Way where there is an absolutely HUGE population of Korean people. I've never seen so many Koreans in my life. Couple nights ago I had conversation with a Korean couple. We were both carrying garbage to the dispenser and were chatting a bit.

I sometimes frequent the local Korean market H-Mart. There is another called Paldo World but I rarely go there. In my interactions with Koreans (I went to a couple free Korean language classes in Bellevue), I've learned they are very conservative. They are much like Chinese but they are more fierce in their pride.

I read article today about a raid on Apple office as well as Google office in Korea. One man was paid a little under $1,000US because Apple collected information about his location for a year or something like that without his consent. It has touched off a backlash and the man is now doing a class action lawsuit in Korea against Apple. Google's offices were also raided because of similar suspicions.

Samsung, the number 1 electronics co. in Korea is fiercely competitive and proud. They are genuinely upset that an American company like Apple can simply come up with a product like iPhone and take over the market after Samsung has been making cell phone for many many years.

I think Koreans might put more emphasis on face than Chinese and wouldn't do anything to openly show you up. One time I was at H-Mart and the Korean salesperson bowed to me. It totally shocked me because nobody ever did that before. I've had a couple Koreans bow to me and they say "On yang ha say yo" which means "hello" in Korean.

I don't know any Chinese people that bow. I also don't recall too many Chinese that seemed so motivated out of pride like Samsung is. I remember a conversation with my Korean language teacher. He told me he moved from Korea when he was small child like 9 or 10 yr old. He failed to register for armed services when he turned 18 which is a rite of passage in S. Korea.

In Korea, all the 18 yr olds after they finish H.S. must attend at least 2 year armed services. Since this young man did not attend they went to his family's house to arrest him, but he was in United States. He now feels he cannot go back because he will be arrested.

I talked with another Korean about this, and they said that there's ways to get around the armed services requirement and that it's well known. I got the impression that he was maybe a little irresponsible for not addressing this issue before the time came and probably didn't care for going back. I think he'll regret that decision some day.

*****Update*****

Ok, I talked to my Auntie who is Korean and she tells me that it is not normal for Korean people to bow. She says that she didn't know why they bowed to me and it's not normal custom.