u/PickleRemote1743

I don't necessarily think that somebody has to be well versed in a culture to write about characters from a specific country or anything, but boy, when it sticks out, it sticks out. In my opinion, I think it depends on where the fic takes place and how important some of these cultural things are to the plot... then I might take a few hours to research.

I think with K-pop Demon Hunters becoming popular and more people writing for the fandom, I've noticed egregious and basic errors within Korean culture that these people have probably unknowingly made. Well, I can't get too mad at KPDH fans because some K-pop fandoms have been making these easy mistakes for years.

But anyways, let me list some basic things about Korean culture that I see people mess up the most + some other details I think might make your worlds more accurate and/or interesting.

For naming children, OCs, side characters

I'm sure by now many of you know that Korean names put the last name first before their given names-- but it not like Japan where people will call each other by their last name as a formality before getting closer. Calling someone by their last name without a proper title (not honorific, but title) attached to it is just sounds funny. Like saying Kim is weird, but saying Kim Gyosunim (professor) or Kim Seonsaengnim (teacher) is respectable.
Speaking of last names, if you wish to be thorough, Korean last names are usually associated with clans. That's how you differentiate one's lineage from another.
Also, when Koreans get married, they retain their own last names. Women do not take the last names of their husband, and if you're writing a gay couple, they wouldn't share the same last name either. Of course, if it's for plot reasons, one of the characters can share a last name with their partner, like if they're trying to distance themselves from their own blood.
Children, however, take the father's last name.
Korean names are commonly three syllables (including the surname), with the legal limit for Korean nationals being five syllables.
Korean names often have Hanja (Chinese based script) behind them, but not all of them do. There are a lot of native Korean names that do not utilize this system. Most Koreans only know very basic Hanja and their own given Hanja; it's not common to learn it as thoroughly as they do in Japan with Kanji.
In Korea, it is common for siblings or cousins to share a generational name, meaning they have a shared syllable within their names (the shared portion usually appearing within the same place in the name).

>For example, Jeon Jungkook from the group BTS has a brother name Jeon Junghyun. Their shared syllable in their name is Jung, or in Korean '정', which uses the Hanja for "spindle tree", infusing the name with a wooden element in accordance to the five elements of East Asian mythology.

It is not common for parents to name their kids after themselves or their parents. Filial piety and the family hierarchy is important, as it is a philosophy that has been historically stressed in East Asia for centuries.
Koreans sometimes consult fortune tellers/shamans (무당 mudang or 만신 manshin in Korean. 박수 baksu is the male variant of the title) to help them name their children. Korean Shamanism is primarily a female-led religion :o
Also, there is the concept of birth dreams (태몽 taemong). These are often seen as premonitions in a way that detail a child's gender or personality.
Also, when you're naming characters, I recommend sticking to a romanization system so the names remain consistent. I think one of the biggest signs that someone has just googled a Korean name (which hey, no shame) is when all the main cast of characters has no spaces or hyphens, and then suddenly, here comes side characters Eun Mi and Woo-seok. It's just a little humorous to me, but it's not like it's offensive or anything.

For school and youth

The school semester in Korea for both lower and higher education begins in March and concludes in February (with a week and half to two week buffer between the years). The semesters are usually divided as the following: March → July, September → February).
College (대학교) in Korea is usually a standard four years. High school (고등학교) in Korea only lasts for three years (ages 15-18). Middle school (중학교) lasts three years (ages 12-15). Elementary school (초등학교) lasts for six (ages 6-12).
All-boys and All-girls schools are very common in Korea.
High school usually goes on from 8am to 4pm, but many students may engage with yaja (야자, shortened variant of the term 야간자율학습)-- an extended study period where students stay within their own school and complete CSAT (or in Korean, the suneung 수능) prep work or other academic activities until about 11pm, or they'll go to a 학원 hagwon, a private cram school, to receive additional instruction. Fun fact: Yaja used to be compulsory until like the early 2000s. My Korean professor used to talk about sneaking out of school in the 80s to avoid doing it, and her teachers would chase her down the halls... Corporal punishment was also legal in Korean schools until 2011.
Koreans do engage with school cleaning!
The Korean CSAT/suneung only takes place ONCE a year on a Thursday in November. If you sleep in or miss the test, you have to wait an entire year to take it again <3
High school in Korea usually requires tuition money. Uniforms are a must. Some schools in Korea regulate hair and make-up more than others.
You cannot get a driver's license in Korea until you are 18 years of age. You can get a license to drive a smaller motor bike at the age of 16, however.
Fifteen is the minimum working age (you can work younger with special permits). In order to get a job as a minor, you need your parental consent and a couple other legal documents that you might not have to worry about in western countries. Also, no youth can work past 10pm, if my memory serves me correctly.

Honorifics and Titles

Korean honorifics and titles follow a name, they don't come before like Mr. or Mrs. does in English.
~ssi (~씨) is the most basic/standard honorific in Korea. You attach it to general strangers, those whom are older, and colleagues whom you are not close to.
The more humble and polite variant of ~ssi is ~nim (~님). ~nim is usually attached to those whom you are showing respect to, to those who are providing a service or who you are providing a service to, or people who have considerable influence (such as teachers and whatnot).
Korean itself is a language that doesn't actually use pronouns such as he or she that often (unless they need to be very specific and the context isn't known), they often supplement pronouns like that with gendered honorifics.
Hyung (형) is an honorific that males use to OLDER males whom they are close with. This can be a brother or a close friend. If they're dating, they can also use it to refer to their boyfriend. Hyung is an honorific that can completely replace someone's name or can just come after it. Saying "Jinu Hyung" or "Hyung" to refer to someone are both correct.
Oppa (오빠) is an honorific that females use on older males whom they are close with. This can be a brother, boyfriend, or close friend.
Unnie (언니) is an honorific that females use on older females whom they are close with. This can be a sister, close friend, or girlfriend.
Nuna (누나) is an honorific that males use on older females whom they are close with. This can be a sister, close friend, or girlfriend.
Dongsaeng (동생) is a gender neutral term utilized by an older speaker to refer to someone younger than them, whether it be a younger close friend or a younger blood sibling. You can technically specify gender by using the masculine namdongsaeng (남동생) or feminine yeodongsaeng (여동생) if the context is required.
~ie (~이) & ~ah (~아)/~ya (~야) are both suffixes that are attached to the end of Korean names, but they have slightly different functions. Both are forms of informal speech, so keep that in mind. ~ah/~yah are attached to the end of a name when someone is trying to get the attention of someone else. ~ah is attached to names ending with a consonant sound, ~yah is added to names ending with a vowel. Jimin-ah (지민아), Rumi-yah (루미야). ~ie on the other hand is a suffix that is attached to names when the (presumably older) speaker is mentioning another person in a conversation. The ~ie form is only applied to names that end with a consonant.
Seonbae(nim) (선배(님)) is an honorific term that refers to someone who is not necessarily older, but someone who is more experienced within a certain field or industry. In terms of school, it can be used to refer to an upperclassman. People use honorifics when speaking with their Seonbaes.
I think my general pet peeve in this department is when two characters meet and five seconds later the younger character is already using intimate pronouns with the older character despite being strangers. Unless the older character is like really chill, that is a pretty odd occurrence.

Other cultural tidbits

Yes, Korea technically retired the Korean age system, but only in a legal sense (like documentation, legal paperwork, laws, etc). Many Koreans still use Korean age colloquially, so it's not odd to see people tack on an extra year or two to their age.
Korean age functions like this: add one year to your age if your birthday has already passed this year, if it hasn't, add two years. So if you're 26 and your birthday hasn't passed yet, congratulations, you are now 28 in Korea! Koreans essentially all turn one year older on January 1st each year.
Koreans observe the Lunar New Year for three days. It's called Seollal 설날. Korean Thanksgiving takes place usually in September/October, and it's called Chuseok 추석.
Seaweed soup is commonly consumed on someone's birthday (but that doesn't mean they don't also eat birthday cake).
The adult age in Korea is not 18, but 19. You must be 19+ to purchase alcohol.
All Korean men must serve in the military before the age of 28 (unless they have special exceptions or clauses that allow them to delay it).
It's lowk kinda normal for employees to get crunk with their bosses at a hweshik 회식 (company dinner). They'll stay out really late too.

uhhh I'm sure there's probably more but if you have any other questions or any other similar experiences just let me know.

TOPIK level 4 Vocab resources?