Based on the research on Korean culture and my own experiences, Koreans consider courtesy and politeness to be very important. It is so crucial in their culture that it's even reflected in Korean language. In terms of body language, it differs how you greet someone based on the recipient's age or social status. The bow is a traditional greeting for someone you have just met or someone older than you. Waving to greet someone is acceptable to someone close to you or peers at your age. Koreans also consider personal space very importantly, so it would be considered violation to touch someone who is not a relative or a close friend. It is also considered impolite for employees to look directly at their bosses or for younger people to look at older people directly in the eyes.
In terms of language itself, the vocabulary, vocab endings and suffixes change depending on whom you are talking to. For example, to ask someone if they have eaten yet, there are two separate words used to address people of different ages. When asking someone a lot older than you, you would ask if they had "jin-ji"and when asking someone of your age or younger, you use the word "bab" even though they both mean meals. Also, you would use "yeon-sae" to ask someone's age if that person is older than you but use "na-yi" if that person is of your age or younger. Social hierarchy is very deeply reflected in Korean language, and therefore Koreans often find it difficult to address someone by calling their first names because that is considered impolite. One interesting fact I found while researching was that calling someone only by the family name which Koreans often do to be polite is actually considered impolite in Germany. Another linguistic aspect of Korean culture is that because it's a relatively more collectivistic culture than others, Koreans say "we" or "our" a lot more even when they are referring to personal property belonging just to themselves.
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