- [Voiceover] South Korea is a modern marvel.
Now one of the economic superpowers of the world,
and arguably the tech capital of the world, too.
The South Korean experience has been one
of the great success stories of all time.
There are many things to be discovered about this country,
which is why we are bringing you
the top ten things you didn't know about South Korea.
The national dish of South Korea, kimchi,
isn't just a food for South Koreans, it's a way of life.
This traditional food is at least 3,000 years old,
though most spicy, variants receive some help
from the introduction of Western spices
a few centuries ago,
particularly through the Portuguese.
Most people only know the fermented cabbage variety
of kimchi, but there are literally hundreds of varieties,
ranging from the popular cabbage variety
to kkakdugi, or cubed radishes;
Oi-sobagi, or stuffed cucumber kimchi.
Most Koreans eat kimchi every day,
and some people even have specialized kimchi refrigerators
to store their kimchi.
Kimchi is packed with vitamin C, and loaded with minerals,
and is a healthy addition to anyone's diet,
which is why we think
the entire world needs to start eating it.
Hangul, or the Korean alphabet,
is a marvel of human learning and language engineering.
For untold centuries, Korean people were forced
to labor under the primitive and poorly adapted
Chinese character system, or hanja,
and only the elite classes even learned it,
spending thousands of hours memorizing them.
The problem with hanja was that the Korean grammar language
was very different from Chinese, and the elaborate nature
of the characters made it a nearly impossible task
for most people to learn.
So the king, Sejong the Great, commissioned the creation
of a new alphabet that would actually
match the Korean language.
Completed in 1444,
and described in the famed document, hunminjeongeum,
or the proper sounds for the educational people,
hangul is one of the great feats of human invention,
and can be learnt in only a few hours,
compared to the decades and decades of study required
for the learning of the primitive and poorly suited hanja.
Although hanja are part of the tradition in the history
of South Korea, Koreans these days use hangul
almost exclusively with little to know use of hanja.
Yudo, or Confucianism, has long been a tremendous influence
on South Korean culture, and if you've ever spent
any time there, you would see its influence immediately.
Korean Confucianism stresses the importance of respect
for elders, authority, such as teachers and instructors,
and the rules of politeness.
Bowing is an important part of Korean Confucian culture,
and is often used as a way of greeting people.
Depending on a person's station, a person will vary
the depth of the bow as he or she greets others,
with the deepest and most respectful bow, the keunjeol,
or big bow, being reserved only for sacred holidays
and the most revered persons in society.
Confucianism can confuse Western people,
but it is the Korean way of things.
Depending on your perspective, South Korea may or may not be
regarded as a satellite of the United States.
There are 28,500 American military personnel in South Korea,
which is more than a small army, and a legacy
of the Korean War and Cold War.
Koreans have mixed feelings about the presence of American
soldiers in South Korea as there have been a number
of incidents over the years involving the American soldiers
committing crimes against the local population,
ranging from assault to rape, but the imminent threat
of North Korea, as well as the United States' distrust
of China, will likely mean that the American military
instillations will remain in South Korea
for the foreseeable future.
Many of you might be familiar with the term eSports,
which stands for electronic sports.
Well, South Korea is possibly the most competitive country
in the world when it comes to eSports.
The term pro-gamer is one which most Koreans recognize
instantly, with many young Koreans striving
to reach the esteemed title, playing games
such as Sudden Attack, and the old,
but classic, StarCraft 2.
The grueling training involved, which sometimes goes up
to 18 hours a day, means that most Koreans don't make it,
and those who do are under constant pressure
to perform and maintain high standards.
Perhaps even more so than physical sports,
in Korean eSports, failure just isn't an option.
South Korea has the highest suicide rate
of any developed country in the world,
outstripping even Japan.
The reasons for this are manifold, but much of it has
to do with the immense pressure to succeed
and land at a top Korean university.
Unlike many other places in the world,
where you still have opportunities no matter
what university you attend, in South Korea,
there are only a few universities considered
worth attending by many,
such as Seoul National University or Yonsei University.
Young people study and do their best to get
into the best universities possible,
but unfortunately, not all of them make it.
The feeling of failure, coupled with feelings of shame,
which is a product of Confucian culture, leads many people
to take their lives rather than face the prospect
of not succeeding, and bringing shame
to themselves and their families.
The South Korean government is trying to tackle the problem,
but it is likely here to stay
until some fundamental cultural changes take place.
South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the world.
If you've ever considered plastic surgery,
you might wanna head on over to South Korea,
since it's both affordable and popular.
In fact, people from all over the world
go there just for that purpose.
It's no coincidence that South Korea is the world leader
in plastic surgery, though,
because just as there is pressure to succeed academically,
there's also pressure to succeed professionally,
and status and presentation are incredibly important
in South Korea, far more so than Western societies,
such as Europe or the United States.
To fuel this need to look perfect, plastic surgery clinics
have popped up everywhere in South Korea,
and these days, it is par for the course.
One of the most popular forms of surgery is eyelid surgery,
done to give the eyes a fold, or crease,
that is normally not present in most Korean's eyelids.
It's so popular that parents often give
their teen-aged daughters eyelid surgery
as a gift after graduation.
If you're from the West, you might be familiar with
after-school programs that are sometimes there for sports,
and sometimes there for study, but South Korea takes
it to a whole new level.
The hagwon, or cram school, is a private for-profit school
where students go after normal school
to improve their knowledge of the subjects they study.
There are hagwon for mathematics, music,
science, English, and many other subjects,
all with the goal of making students they best
they can possibly be, but it all comes at a terrible price.
South Korean students have some
of the worst sleep deprivation of any country in the world.
Under tremendous pressure to succeed,
and going to normal school in the early morning,
to cram schools lasting as late as midnight sometimes,
all their lives are filled with
is study, study, and more study,
which is taking a toll on their health and sleep.
The only way to fix this problem would be
to likely change the fundamental building blocks
of South Korean education, which is a tall task indeed.
It might not be as bad as China, but South Korea has
a pollution problem.
Largely due to its rapid industrial growth, coupled by the
infamous dust storms that sweep down from the Gobi Desert
in Mongolia through China, and onto the Korean Peninsula,
as well as Chinese smog emissions, major cities
such as Seoul, Daegu, and Busan,
all have heavy levels of pollution,
causing legitimate respiratory problems for South Koreans.
This often causes people to wear so-called yellow dust masks
to protect their lungs from the air particles,
but that is probably a less than ideal solution
in the long run.
When you think of booze and alcoholism,
you may think of Russia or some Scandinavian country,
but the truth is South Korea is the record holder
in the entire world for drinking and rates of alcoholism.
Soju is an alcoholic beverage in traditional drink,
usually made from rice, and is South Korean's
most popular alcoholic beverage.
Drinking culture is, and will always likely be,
part of South Korean culture, and because
of the Confucian culture conformity, people feel forced
to drink even when they don't want to,
such as at company dinners, where it is
considered rude to refuse to drink.
It might be part of the tradition,
but being the world's leader in alcoholism
is a dubious honor, in deed, and one South Koreans
might be best served by dropping.
For more top lists like this, be sure
to leave a Like and Subscribe if you haven't all ready,
and don't forget to check out our other videos,
and we'll see you all next time.