Step into an elevator in South Korea and you might notice something strange. The buttons read: 1 – 2 – 3 – F – 5 Where did the fourth floor go? No, the building isn’t missing a floor. The answer comes from one of Korea’s best-known number superstitions. In Korean, the Sino-Korean word for four…
Imagine writing a Korean friend’s name with a red pen. You might think nothing of it. But your friend suddenly looks uncomfortable and asks you to use another color. Why? In Korea, writing a living person’s name in red has traditionally been considered bad luck—and can even carry an association with death. It is one…
Have you ever watched a K-Drama and wondered why a character suddenly panicked over something that seemed completely harmless? Maybe someone wrote a name in red ink. A student refused to eat seaweed soup before an exam. Or a character became uncomfortable when the elevator stopped on the fourth floor. These moments can seem random…