Some blunders Koreans make with foreigners

By Akli Hadid

While as foreigners, we often get reminded of the cultural blunders that we make in Korea, from not taking off our shoes at some restaurants (for those who are new to Korea) to blowing our nose in public to asking a Korean boss for a pay raise (even among those who have been in Korea for years).

But this time I would like to reverse the situation and mention the blunders that I have seen some Koreans make (even at the highest level).

First, Koreans tend to rank everything, from countries to universities to companies. In most countries, countries tend to be listed in alphabetical order rather than by geographical or economic power to avoid discriminating countries in the concert of nations.

However, I have seen official events where Koreans grouped participants by economic power and geographic location (Western Europeans and North Americans together at the front, China and Japan in the middle, Latin American countries further behind, South Asian and South East Asian countries behind and African countries all the way back).

While Koreans who planned the events perhaps had no evil intentions, such practices tend to be discriminatory and should be done with more tact. Putting Africans at the back of an event could imply racism and discrimination on the part of the organizers.

Also, I have seen Koreans show contempt for high ranking officials and businessmen because they did not have a university degree or graduated from a low ranking university, or even in some cases because they did not have advanced degrees.

I have even seen a Korean businessman show contempt to an Australian businessman who had a Master’s degree from a very good Australian university, because it was not Australia National University.

Showing such contempt can break business deals, as having degrees may be valued in Korea, but not so much in other countries.

I have also heard stories from powerful African, South Asian or Southeast Asian businessmen who did not receive a warm welcome from their Korean business counterparts.

While Korean businesses tend to send powerful businessmen to pick up equally powerful businessmen from North America or Europe, they often send young and low ranking staff to pick up powerful businessmen from developing countries.

Korean companies should be aware that a billionaire is a billionaire in any country.

One common mistake I have seen among Koreans is criticizing foreign businessmen for not speaking English.

Some very powerful businessmen and politicians are not English speakers, and criticizing them for that could hurt their egos, as they would feel it belittles their business success. Speaking English is not a must in many countries, nor is it a sign of wealth or success.

Also, many Korean businessmen I know grow impatient during the summer, when most businesses abroad tend to slow down because of the summer break.

I’ve heard of many stories of Korean businesses harassing businesses abroad during the summer break season, leading to frustration from such businesses as most of their staff is on a break from work.

Another mistake Korean businesses tend to make is that they do not appoint experts to discuss matters with foreign businesses.

In many countries, technical expertise of the product being sold is important and many questions are asked about the product. However, many Korean businessmen tend to lack the technical expertise needed to answer such questions, leading to some businesses abroad wondering if the product is worth buying.

One major thing I noticed is that Korean businessmen tend to do business with foreign countries without trying to gain knowledge about the history, culture or society of the country they are doing business with, which can lead to misunderstandings.

While Koreans expect knowledge about Korea from the businessmen they do business with, reciprocity applies, and Korean businessmen should have basic knowledge of the countries they do business with.

Finally, it is common practice among Koreans to ask business partners and politicians for a resume, as a resume is a very public thing in Korea.

However, in many countries, counterparts could be insulted as a resume is considered a private document that is only sent when applying for jobs.

As Korea strives to be a global powerhouse, such basic political and business global etiquette is needed, as such blunders can cost Korea a lot of money.

Akli Hadid is a Ph.D. candidate at the Academy of Korean Studies. His email address is hadid.akli@gmail.com.