Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
COMPETITIVE LIVES
The country's recovery from the ashes of the Korean War, construction workers on the job
seven days a week, or computer-game addicts: they're all strands cut from the same cloth,
the country's tenacious, pit-bull spirit. Once Koreans lock onto something, it's difficult to
break away. Life is competitive and everything is taken seriously, be it tenpin bowling, hik-
ing or overseas corporate expansion.
'A person without education is like a beast wearing clothes' is a proverb that nails
Korea's obsession with education. Though everyone complains about this manic pursuit, it
is a system hard to shake. To get into one of the top Korean universities (nearly all of
which are in Seoul), high-school students go through a gruelling examination process,
studying 14 hours a day, often in private cram schools at night, for their one annual shot at
the college entrance test.
Koreans are also fanatical about health. The millions of hikers who stream into the
mountains on weekends are not only enjoying nature but also keeping fit. Thousands of
health foods and drinks are sold in markets and pharmacies, which stock traditional as well
as Western medicines. Nearly every food claims to be a 'well-being' product or an aphro-
disiac - 'good for stamina' is the local phrase.
