Chapter 6 is about the welfare system in Korea. There are several services available.
사회보험
사회보험 (social insurance) is not optional under Korean law - you must pay into this system if you’re employed. It includes 4 major insurances referred to as 4대보험:
건강보험 - health insurance
고용보험 - unemployment insurance, in case you’re fired by your employer and become an unemployed person (실업자)
국민연금 - national pension, which begins to pay out once you turn 65
산업재해보상보험 - worker’s compensation insurance, in case you’re injured on the job
공공부조
공공부조 (public assistance) is available at both the federal and local levels, and is based on income. The major services include:
국민기초생활보장제도 - national basic livelihood security guarantees a basic wage
의료급여제도 - medical care assistance
Some foreigners are eligible for public assistance in certain cases, including:
Pre- and post-natal care for foreign mothers and their multicultural children
Under-educated minors
Adjustment services (language and cooking classes, etc.)
사회복지서비스
사회복지서비스 (social welfare services) are professional services designed to help people recover from financial hardship. They include counseling, rehabilitation, help with job searches, public spaces for certain groups, etc. They’re targeted services for the elderly, children, teenagers, women, single parent families, etc. Certain services are also available for foreigners and multicultural families.
TV, radio, and newspapers are the three main forms of mass media in Korea. The basic TV channels are KBS, EBS, MBC, and SBS. EBS is dedicated to educational programming. Local TV channels are also available without charge. A ton of channels are available with a cable subscription.
Radio is mostly listened to in the car, and talk radio is popular.
Newspapers are national, local, and field-specific. Free newspapers were very popular for a while, but are practically non-existent now.
Almost everyone has the internet. The three most popular “portal sites” are Naver, Daum, and Nate. “Cafes” are online communities or forums. “UCC” refers to “user created contents.”
Chapter 4 covers transportation and communication.
Korean cities have great public transportation which includes intra-city buses (시내버스), subways, and taxis. 서울 (and the larger metro area), 부산, 대구, 광주, and 대전 all have subway systems.
The Seoul subways and buses allow for free transfers if you have a transportation card. You can transfer up to three times, if your transfer occurs within 30 minutes (60 minutes after 9 p.m.). Transfers aren’t allowed on the same bus or subway line. The electronic card reader is called a 단말기.
Inter-city travel can be done via inter-city buses (시외버스) and trains (KTX-산천, 새마을, and 무궁화 trains are the most common). KTX trains are express bullet trains, 새마을 are non-express, and 무궁화 are slow diesel trains that make a lot of local stops.
Communication in Korea includes the post office, phones, cell phones, and internet. Wireless internet is extremely widespread. Voice fishing (보이스 피싱) refers to calls or texts that are designed to steal personal information or money from.
Again, keep in mind how these basic facts compare to your own home country when taking the Socinet exam.
Chapter 3 is about Korean workplaces and basic work culture.
In Korea, you must be 15 to begin working, but most people first begin working in their 20s after completing high school and college. The average retirement age is 65.
The most popular jobs are either with the government (공무원/civil servant) or a large corporation (대기업), because these tend to be stable despite regardless of the economic situation. This makes them very competitive jobs. Many of these jobs still require some sort of employment exam, but these are slowly falling out of use.
Until recently, men made up most of the workforce while women raised children at home. Slowly, women are becoming a larger percentage of workers. A couple where both people work is called a 맞벌이 부부. Korea is currently facing the issue of women finding it difficult to return to the workforce after having children/taking maternity leave.
Relationships between coworkers are emphasized in Korea, and it’s not uncommon to be close enough to refer to one another as 형님, 언니, etc. To cultivate close relationships, 회식 (after-work group outings) are common.
Regular work hours are usually 9 am to 6 pm, with an hour break for lunch. Working late (야근) is very common. There is officially a 5 day work week, but it’s not uncommon to work on Saturdays in certain fields/offices. Most people receive a week of paid vacation to be used in the summer, usually July or August.
These are obvious points to anyone who has been in Korea for a while, but they’re often used on the Socinet exam in questions where you’re asked to compare your home culture to Korean culture.
Traditionally, Korean children live with their parents until marriage and the eldest son (장남) stayed past marriage to take care of his mother and father. Staying until marriage is still common, while staying past marriage is becoming more rare. The average age for marriage is now around 30 years old, with men marrying later than women. Husbands tend to be 3~4 years older than their wives, and couples have 1~2 children on average.
In the past, larger families were more common, but after industrialization, more diverse types of families became more visible. Common family types:
대가족 - “Extended family” with grandparents, parents, and children living in the same house
핵가족 - “Nuclear family” (parents and children)
한 부모 가족 - “Single parent family”
조손가족 - “Skipped generation family” with grandparents raising their grandchildren
일인 가구 - “One-person household”
In terms of demographics, one-person households and couples without children are expected to keep growing in number, while extended and nuclear families become less common.
Family relationship words
The textbook covers the following words used for family relationships (there are obviously a ton more, but these are the basics):
Couples can call each other 여보 or 당신, or, after they have children, X아빠 and X엄마 (where X is the name of their child).
A wife calls her husband’s parents 아버님 and 어머님. To other people, she refers to them as 시아버지 and 시어머니, or, together, 시부모(님). To say that a woman is getting married, you can say “시집에 간다.”
A husband calls his wife’s parents 장인어른 and 장모님. To say that a man is getting married, you can say “장가간다.”
A husband’s parents will call their daughter-in-law (새)아가 before she has any children, and 어멈아 after. To other people, they can refer to their daughter-in-law as 며느리. After their son has children, they can call him 애비야.
A wife’s parents will call their son-in-law X서방 (where X is his last name).
A wife calls her husband’s older sister 형님, and his younger sister 아가씨. His older brother is 아주버님, and his younger brother is 도련님 before he gets married, or 서방님 after he gets married.
A husband calls his wife’s older sister 처형, and her younger sister 처제. Her older brother is 형님, and her younger brother is 처남.
Degrees of kinship
Your degree of kinship (촌수) refers to how closely related you are to another member of your family. Couples aren’t related, so they’re considered 무촌. Parents and children are 1촌, siblings are 2촌. Cousins are 4촌 (each of the cousins is one step from their parents, who are two steps from each other, so 1 + 1 + 2 = 4). Further relationships are countable, but are often just referred to as 4촌. Paternal relationships are marked with 친, while maternal relationships are marked with 외 (친사촌 vs. 외사촌).
식구 is another word for “family” that comes from the hanja 食口 (”eat” and “mouth”). This refers to people who eat at the same table together (which shows the importance of food in Korea!).
Part 2 of chapter one covers the writing system and holidays.
한글
한글 is the Korean alphabet:
Developed in 1443
Introduced in 1446
Created by King Sejong (세종대왕) to increase literacy among the lower classes.
Originally consisted of 28 characters, now 24
14 consonants (자음) are made from 5 basic characters that represent the shape of the mouth and vocal organs (발음기관) when they are pronounced. The other consonants are derivatives of these 5. You can see the main shape in all of the derivatives:
ㄱ -> ㅋ -> ㄲ
ㄴ -> ㄷ -> ㅌ -> ㄸ -> ㄹ
ㅁ -> ㅂ -> ㅍ -> ㅃ
ㅅ -> ㅈ -> ㅊ -> ㅆ -> ㅉ
ㅇ -> ㅎ
10 vowels (모음) made from 3 basic characters:
천 is a dot representing heaven
지 is a horizontal line representing earth
인 is a vertical line representing man
Alphabetic order is read 가나다라마바사아자차카타파하 (double consonants come right after their single counter parts, ie. ㄱ then ㄲ, but aren’t spoken when reciting alphabetic order. This means anything starting with ㄱ precedes anything starting with ㄴ, then ㄷ, etc. Vowel order is read 아야어여오요우유으이, with compound vowels like ㅐ or ㅘ coming in between (but again, not spoken when reciting alphabetic order). This means 가 comes before 갸, 너 comes before 노, etc.
구경일
National holidays (구경일) for which the Korean flag is flown are as follows:
3/1 (삼일절) - Independence Movement Day, to memorialize the independence movement against colonial Japan in 1919
6/6 (현충일) - Memorial Day, to remember those who lost their lives for Korea (flag is flown at half mast)
7/17 (제헌절) - Constitution Day, to celebrate the passing of Korea’s first constitution in 1948
8/15 (광복절) - National Liberation Day, to celebrate Korea’s independence from colonial Japan in 1945
10/3 (개천절) - Foundation Day, to celebrate the creation of the Korean nation by legendary founder 단군 in 2333 B.C.
10/9 (한글날) - Hangeul Day, to celebrate the creation of hangeul
There are other public holidays, of course, but they aren’t considered “national holidays” for which the flag is flown.
So the Socinet textbook contains lots of info, some helpful, some not. Some of it is great if you plan on living in Korea indefinitely. Lots of it is potentially on the final exam. Just going to run through each chapter here, beginning with the first part of chapter 1, which describes the national symbols of Korea.
태극기
태극기 is Korea’s national flag (국기). These are its elements and what they symbolize:
White background - peace, purity, brightness
태극 (yin yang symbol) - harmony, hope, the universe, yin and yang (음 and 양)
Red section (적색) - 양 (the sun), up, left, positive energy
Blue section (청색) - 음 (the moon), down, right, negative energy
4 trigrams (괘): 건 (☰), 곤 (☷), 감 (☵), 리 (☲) - in order, represent heaven, earth, water, fire; east, west, north, south; spring, summer, winter, fall. 감 and 리 also represent the moon and the sun, respectively. In order, they appear in the top left corner, bottom right corner, top right corner, and bottom left corner.
Taken together, the flag represents peace and harmony.
The Korean pledge of allegiance
The pledge is something worth memorizing if you plan on naturalizing:
“나는 자랑스러운 태극기 앞에 자유롭고 정의로운 대한민국의 무궁한 영광을 위하여 충성을 다할 것을 굳게 다짐합니다.”
애국가
애국가 is Korea’s national anthem (국가):
Written by 안익태
Adopted for use in 1948 (when 대한민국 was adopted as the official name for the Republic of Korea)
4 verses (절) + repeating refrain (후렴)
Most people know the first verse + the refrain:
“동해물과 백두산이 마르고 닳도록
하느님이 보우하사 우리나라 만세
무궁화 삼천리 화려강산
대한사람 대한으로 길이 보전하세”
무궁화
The rose of Sharon (무궁화) is Korea’s national flower (국화). It’s nicknamed the “eternal flower” and blooms between July and October in Korea.
I completed the KIIP program in the spring of 2016 after testing in at level 5. Now I've got an F2 visa. I've also got a lot of down time (due to cancer, which I sometimes blog about as @cancerinkorea). I figure this is as good an excuse as any to review the material from the program. :)
Socinet Level 5 Study @socinet5-blog - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
