Tipping in Korea, and the Other Rules Nobody Tells You

Service is priced into the bill and staff are paid a wage rather than a share of gratuities. Adding ten per cent to a restaurant bill does not read as generosity; it reads as a mistake, and in smaller places someone will chase you down the street to return it.

That holds everywhere: taxis take the meter, hotels do not expect anything for luggage, bars charge for drinks, and tour guides are paid by the operator. If a service was genuinely good, the Korean response is a warm gamsahamnida and, in a restaurant, coming back.

A few visitor-facing businesses in Itaewon and the hotel trade have begun to accept tips from foreigners who insist, but it remains an import rather than a custom.

Paying happens at the counter by the door rather than at the table, and bills are usually settled by one person for the group — splitting is done afterwards by transfer among friends rather than at the till.

Elders first. If there is an older person at the table, they sit first, lift their glass first, and start eating first. Among strangers this rarely applies to a visitor, but it is worth watching for.

Two hands when pouring and receiving. You do not pour your own drink; someone else fills your glass and you fill theirs. Hold the bottle with two hands, or one hand supporting the other forearm, when pouring for someone older.

Turn away to drink if you are drinking with someone significantly older — a small turn of the head, still practised.

Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice. It resembles incense at a funeral. Lay them across the bowl or on the rest.

Banchan are communal and free. Ask for more; do not take them home.

Slurping is fine, blowing your nose at the table is not. Step outside.

None of this is tested. Getting two of the six right marks you as someone who noticed, which is the entire point. More on how ordering works.

Priority seats. The seats at the ends of each metro carriage are for the elderly, pregnant passengers and people with disabilities, and they stay empty even when the carriage is full. This is the single most visible social rule in Seoul and visitors sitting in them is the most common visible mistake.

Quiet on transport. Phone calls are taken briefly and quietly or not at all. Eating on the metro is not done.

Escalators. Stand on the right, walk on the left, though signage increasingly asks everyone to stand.

Shoes. Off at any raised step — hanok interiors, temple halls, some traditional restaurants, and every private home. Wear socks you are willing to be seen in.

Rubbish. Public bins are scarce and this is deliberate. Carry it to a convenience store or your accommodation.

Photographing people. Ask. In Bukchon this is not just courtesy — the district restricted access precisely because visitors photographed into private homes.

Annyeonghaseyo — hello — and gamsahamnida — thank you — will carry you through a two-week trip. Both are used constantly, both are appreciated from a visitor, and neither requires getting the tone right.

Add jwesonghamnida (excuse me, apologetic) and igeo juseyo (this one, please, while pointing) and ordering becomes straightforward.

English coverage is good on signage, in the metro and at major sights, and thin in small restaurants and taxis. Papago handles Korean far better than Google Translate does, including photographs of menus, and Naver Map is the map that works — Google Maps does not give walking directions in Korea.

One social note: Koreans frequently ask a visitor's age early in a conversation. It is not rudeness; the language has different registers depending on relative age, and the question is how someone works out which to use.