Why Koreans Don’t Say Hi to Strangers
For religious reasons
안녕! It's Ari, your talkative Korean friend and “The Glory: Part 2” reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a healthy popcorn alternative, why Koreans don’t say hi to strangers, and how to speak cute Korean. Let’s start!
🎧 You can listen to me read and what ChatGPT said about my English writing on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or others.
Healthy Popcorn Alternative
Do you need something crispy to eat while watching dramas without worrying about calories? I’ve got you covered! Let me introduce gimbokkeum or stir-fried gim (dried seaweed). Roasted and unsalted gim is a refrigerator staple in my country and Koreans make many kinds of food using it. The simplest but most delicious 😋 food you can make at home with gim is stir-fried gim. Just scissor the gim into bite-sized pieces and stir-fry them in a pan with a sweet and salty sauce. That’s it! Roasted gim can lose its crispiness while in the refrigerator, but stir-frying is a great way to make it crispy again. Koreans often enjoy this dish with rice, but I’ve heard that people in other countries enjoy gim as a snack. Since it’s crispy, salty, and sweet, it will make a great alternative to chips or popcorn. Watch the cooking video above and try it for yourself.
The cooking video is in Korean, but you’ll be able to follow along mostly just by watching it, except for the sauce recipe. For 10 sheets of gim, the sauce ingredients are sugar (1T), soy sauce (2T), mirim or rice wine (2T), and sesame oil (1T). Don’t forget to let it cool for a minute before eating. Bon appétit!
Why Koreans Don’t Say Hi to Strangers
Recently, a young Korean woman shared her story about working as a part-timer at a café 👆 According to her, while she was working, a man who appeared to be in his 40s approached her and asked for her number. She declined, but he insisted and started screaming and lying on the ground 🤮 She was scared but, two ajummas (middle-aged women) who were sitting at the café scolded him and kicked him out. The two women were kind enough to offer to take her home, and she was really grateful for their help. However, she later found out that the kind ajummas were actually members of a cult, and everything that happened, including the man’s behavior, was part of their act or set-up to gain her trust and lure her to their church 😱 As this story went viral, many people shared their experiences of the creepy tactics used by Korean cults to recruit new members.
There are many pseudo-religions in the country, and they have a huge number of followers. They are well-funded and allegedly have deep connections with elites in politics, media, and prosecution. There have been continuous allegations that the South Korean President, a former prosecutor, is being influenced by a self-proclaimed prophet.
Some cults are notorious for their creepy and well-planned recruitment style. Recruiters often stay undercover for years to earn the target’s trust before revealing their identity and inviting them to their church. Cult recruiters can be found on the streets, particularly in crowded areas. They may approach people asking for directions, but later say things like, “Oh, you’re so kind. Do you live here? Can we go somewhere to talk?” It happened to me a few months ago 🙃 Or they may introduce themselves as students doing homework and ask you to fill out a survey form. This happened to me years ago 🙃🙃
These types of recruitment tactics have a long history and are well-known to Koreans. As a result, people tend to become suspicious when a stranger approaches them and says hi or asks for directions. And since they don’t want to be mistaken as a cult member, they don’t say hi to a stranger, except when flirting at a bar. It’s ridiculous that people have to worry about being mistaken for a cult member when asking for directions 😓
A new Netflix documentary series, “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal,” is taking the nation by storm. The series covers “the chilling true stories of four Korean leaders claiming to be prophets and exposes the dark side of unquestioning belief.” As the documentary gains popularity, many people are sharing their experiences with cults online.
The documentary was produced by MBC, a Korean broadcasting network that also produced the recent hit reality competition series, “Physical: 100.” Although MBC could have made and distributed the documentary series on their own, they choose Netflix as their distribution channel. It’s believed that a past incident may have forced the network to do so. In 1999, MBC made a documentary accusing a Korean cult leader of serious crimes. After broadcasting the program, thousands of his followers swarmed the network’s headquarters, damaging equipment and cutting power. As a result, the network had to stop broadcasting.
If you’re curious about Korean cults, you can watch the new Netflix series. ⚠️ However, be careful as it can be hard to watch. According to the documentary’s chief producer, the production staff even suffered a mental breakdown while making the series due to the horrific crimes related to the cult leaders.
Mini Korean Lesson) Say Cute Korean!
As Apple releases the new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, its cute Korean ad copy is going viral in the country. The English copy is, “Hello, Yellow!” and its Korean copy is 나랑 노랑! 나랑 means “with me,” and 노랑 means “yellow.” So the copy means “yellow with me,” but it could also mean “play with me,” since 노랑 can also mean “play (in a cute way).”
Koreans often add ㅇ as a final consonant to the last letter in a sentence when saying cutely or aegyo-y 😘 For example, when you suggest your friend to go to see a movie together,
영화 보러 가자. Let’s go to see a movie. (normal)
영화 보러 가장. Let’s go to see a movie. (cute)
When you say, “Thank you,”
고마워요. (normal)
고마워용. (cute)
Try add ㅇ at the end of a sentence and speak/text cute Korean! Don’t forget to practice the sentences with me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or others.
One last thing to share is a brand-new makgeolli (Korean traditional alcohol). A Korean alcohol company, Yicheonmi, collaborated with a hit BL webtoon, “Painter of the Night,” to release a limited edition of makgeolli. This collaboration shows BL’s popularity among Korean women. The bottle is wrapped with the webtoon’s drawing and the webtoon’s fans are sharing review pics with a makgeolli’s best friend, kimchijeon 😋👆 In Seoul, there are many jeon places you can order a variety of jeons for delivery. Give it a try when you visit :D
Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, like ❤️, leave a comment, share with your friends, or make a donation to support me. It’ll help me keep writing! See you next week. 안녕!
That Apple slogan you shared is soooooo fun! Thanks for your sharing
안녕하세용 아라 씨! Yay for ChatGPT complimenting your newsletter! I'm glad you're back!