Culture and Health
Gastronomic Culture
Korea has a superior health care system leading to higher life expectancies along with obesity among the world’s lowest (OECD, 2020). Aside from their successful health care system, traditional Korean culture is highly correlated to good health to its citizen.
Korean diet is a large player of good health and a large part of a Korean’s identity. Lee and Cho (2014) mention that a traditional Korean table setting consists of side dishes made of seasoned vegetables, grilled dishes, fermented products, rice, soup, and kimchi as staples. It was found that adhering to a traditional Korean diet lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome, hypertension, obesity, and hypertriglyceridemia (Lee & Cho, 2014). Korean cuisine is low calorie and full of vegetables.
In addition to a healthy diet in Korean culture, Korea has health beliefs revolving around a gastronomic culture. In a journal article by Oktay and Ekinci (2019), it was stated that many Koreans believe that food and medicine are the same. It is an idea that health starts with food and that food can treat diseases (Oktay & Ekinci, 2019). This idea also harbors the belief that balance within food comes in 5 elements – earth, fire, wood, water, and metal. Oktay and Ekinci state, “The fire element is bitter, the wood element is sour, water is salty, metal is spicy, and earth is sweet.” Food’s main use was to be consumed to prevent disease and treat illnesses.
For example, ginseng, specifically red ginseng, is used as food and medicine for its antioxidant properties (Oktay & Ekinci, 2019). It performs to strengthen brain function, energize the body, and is believed to treat depression, anxiety, respiratory and digestive disorders (Oktay & Ekinci, 2019).
Work Culture & Alcohol
Korean culture has deep roots in Confucianism, and it influences the Korean family, work, and social culture. Economic status and positional hierarchy along with age and marital status are other factors that influence social status and seniority. Korea’s infamous corporate culture encompasses frequent overtime, office hierarchy, and in some corporations, workplace bullying, harassment, and abuse. For example, in Korea’s corporate culture at LG, positional hierarchy determines who sits where at company dinners. Some employees may be scolded for wanting to leave on time and accused for not having enough work ethic or loyalty to a company (Park, 2018).
Work culture is a bridge to alcohol dependency to Koreans. Cho (2019) states that Korea has the highest prevalence of alcohol abuse and dependence at 6.76% of the population. Cho (2019) also states that, “For business workers, drinking is non-negotiable. Drinks after work strengthen relationships with colleagues, and an invitation to drink with an office superior is a great compliment that should not be turned down.” Alcohol is extremely cheap in Korea comparable to about 2.50 USD (Cho, 2019). Drinking is normalized in Korean media and deeply rooted in their culture (Cho, 2019). There is a major concern of heavy drinking on Korea’s public health contributing to injuries, crime, diseases including alcohol dependence, neuropsychiatric, cancer, liver cirrhosis, as well as social problems such as dysfunctional relationships and loss of productivity (Cho, 2019). The country does not have strict alcohol restrictions or regulations. Identification checks are uncommon, and alcohol is widely distributed at a low cost (Cho, 2019). Cho (2019) highlights the lack of law and order of drunken offenders in that they are, “..at worst, detained overnight in police stations and allowed to sleep off their drunkenness; sometimes incurring a small fine.”
Social Stressors & Suicide
The drinking tradition is also trickling down into college and even teenage students, reports finding students drinking five nights a week (Cho, 2019). In addition to the enablement of drinking among the Korean youth, mental health issues are of grave concern. Lee (2016) mentions that, “The main reasons for adolescent depression included academic grades at school, physical appearance, and conflicts with their parents and peers.” Korean high school students experience a tremendous amount of stress related to college entrance exams (Zong, 2015). In a study done by Zong (2015), it was found that other causes of suicidal ideation are family problems such as poverty and violence, peer related issues, and other academic concerns that cause depression.
Suicide is not only limited to Korean youth. Surprisingly, suicide rates are increasingly high among Korea’s elderly. 76% of older adults aged 65+ that live alone make less than half of the median household disposable income (Koo, 2018). In such a wealthy county where 12% (7.7 million people) of the population is older than 65 (Yoon et al., 2020), support for the elderly is limited. Older adults make a living by roaming the streets and collecting recyclable pieces to that can be sold at recycling centers in which is compensated at a rate of 80 KRW (8 cents) for each kilogram of waste collected (Koo, 2018). Koo (2018) found that, due to the lack of support in the welfare system, 28.1% of suicide victims in Korea are over the age of 65.
Gender Inequalities
The law stipulates equality to all, however, society still influenced by historical male superiority. There is an unusually high level of professional inequality in Korea despite being a developed country. According to the OECD (2020), the wage gap between gender in Korea is 32.5% while the average wage gap according to the OECD is 13.1%. There is a high rate of part time employment among women primarily from the Confucius ideals of gender roles in which women are expected to take on the role of familial duties and childcare (Kim, 2015). Women are making their way into the male dominated workforce but retaining women is difficult when finding dependable childcare is hard to come by (Kim, 2015).
As women are fighting guilt between flourishing in their careers or being a mother, this dilemma as a woman in Korea contributes to the all-time low fertility rate at 1.1 per woman (Shin, 2020).