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South Korea

Examining what it’s like to live, work and play in South Korea, our experts guide you through the nuances that define its culture.

Explore behavioural developments in South Korea

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Latest South Korea articles

report·
24 Apr 2024

How South Korea’s celebrity gamers build dedicated fandoms

report·
24 Apr 2024

South Korea has produced some of the world’s most famous esports stars. But in the age of streaming, the nature of celebrity in the gaming world can vary, with content creators and fans joining the fray. What can competitive and non-competitive gamers teach about building a thriving fanbase?

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24 Apr 2024

Young Koreans leave corporate life for stability

signal·
24 Apr 2024

Young Koreans are leaving corporate jobs for professional certifications that offer greater security and higher salaries, eschewing corporate success for the certainty of safer fields. Reared in permacrisis, many Gen Zers are looking for security to safeguard against future catastrophes.

report·
23 Apr 2024

Does the decline of White Day prove people are getting tired of ‘Day’ marketing?

report·
23 Apr 2024

Economic challenges, marketing saturation, changing relationship patterns, and the move towards digital interaction have diminished the vibrancy and engagement usually associated with Valentine’s Day and White Day – one example of Korean and Japanese people’s fatigue surrounding ‘Day’ marketing.

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22 Apr 2024

The number of South Koreans living alone is rising

signal·
22 Apr 2024

A 2024 study has revealed that an ageing population in South Korea is living increasingly alone, demonstrating an increase in single-person households as young people put off marriage. Korean society is changing, and people are looking for brands to offer solutions to increasing social isolation.

report·
15 Apr 2024

Why are so many South Korean Gen Alphas wearing luxury clothes?

report·
15 Apr 2024

In an ageing country with fewer kids per capita than ever, South Korean adults are willing to spend money on the kids that do exist in their lives, driving a booming childrenswear industry. What’s shaping Gen Alpha’s fashion choices in their formative years, and what should brands watch out for?

case study·
12 Apr 2024

How Naver decodes Korean shoppers’ online lifestyles

case study·
12 Apr 2024

Naver, South Korea’s biggest search engine, has created interactive shopping experiences and a thriving online community. Through its combination of group-buying, live e-commerce, and AI-generated ads, it continues to make exciting improvements that keep it at the top of the game in South Korea.

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Experts on Access

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Cultural Insider

Max Kim

Journalist specializing in research-intensive longform projects

Seoul-based journalist Max Kim has written on the intersection of tech and South Korean politics for publications such as The New Yorker, MIT Technology Review, The Guardian, covering topics such as the political and economic impacts of Big Tech, the platform economy, and the impact of both on human behaviour. He offers a big picture view of how tech interweaves Korean society and share reflections on what's next.

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Macro Expert

Ingyu Oh

Expertise in organisations and cultural studies

Ingyu Oh is a professor of business management and Korean and Japanese cultural industries at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. He is also a researcher at the International Centre for Organization & Innovation Studies, Singapore. Before coming to Japan in 2018, he had taught at Korea University, Bristol Business School, Middle East Technical University, UC Berkeley, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, the University of Waikato, and the University of Oregon. His main teaching and research interests include organisational studies, innovation, international business, business history, and cultural studies. He is an associate editor of Asia Pacific Business Review.

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Macro Expert

Hyeyoung Woo

Professor specialising in family and health in Korea and the US

Hyeyoung Woo is a professor of sociology and the director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Portland State University. She received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Woo's research centres on status attainment, such as in education, work, and family, and its associations with health and wellbeing over the course of a person's life, particularly those in the US and Korea. Her current project is titled 'The Making of Women in Korea', funded by the Academy of Korean Studies. Her work has been published in several journals and books, including Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea.

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Cultural Insider

Lorraine (Lorr) Ye

Head Curator and K-Culture Writer

Lorraine (Lorr) Ye is the Head Curator at thehug.xyz helping their community of 11,000+ global digital artists navigate how to become a multi-modal creator and K-Culture Writer at AllKPop.com, the largest English-language K-Pop news site in the world. There, she focuses on Marketing, Communications, and PR and holds interviews with renown artists.

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Sector Expert

Hawon Jung

Journalist/author on gender issues and feminist movements in South Korea

Hawon Jung is a former Seoul correspondent for AFP and the author of Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement. Jung spent over a decade writing about the Korean Peninsula, focusing on the military confrontations between the two Koreas and gender issues in South Korea. Flowers of Fire is based on her years-long reporting on the #MeToo and feminist movements in the South – an economic, technological and cultural powerhouse that still has one of the worst records on women's rights in the industrialised world. Her coverage of the country's #MeToo movement was also shortlisted in the Awards for Editorial Excellence by the Society of Publishers in Asia.

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