One cultural aspect that is embedded into nearly every Korean is the "pali pali" culture. Directly translating to "hurry", the pali pali culture is seen all throughout Korea and its people. Essentially this is Korea's face-paced lifestyle with their constant desire to do everything quickly in order to achieve the greatest success. This desire for swiftness stems all the back to the Miracle of the Han River. This was a period of rapid economic growth for South Korea, where they went from poverty to an emerging country, and finally developed. Speared by Park Chung-hee and his Five-Year plans was this tiger economy that pushed for export-oriented industrialization. President Park would often reward projects and constructions that finished before they were scheduled.
The pali pali culture can even be seen through the infrastructure of Korea. This includes transportation where there are intricate and efficient subway and metro systems with very tight time schedules. Waste management allows for efficiency and cleanliness. And, of course, one of the fastest internet speeds in the world. Another aspect that the pali paliculture influences is delivery. You have food delivery systems through motorcycles and will often see a motorcycle zip through traffic and sidewalks to reach its customers as fast as possible. All these delivery systems are also connected by apps like Kakao or Naver that allow for quick checkout. Even the people themselves are affected by this culture. With faster paced walking and escalator etiquette. Many also prefer to eat very quickly and prefer a quick take-out over dine-in. Quick service is expected even though they receive no tip. Convenience stores have boilers and microwaves along with tables to eat for those looking for a quick bite.
Korea is also known for its quick-changing trends from clothes and even people. One moment a fashion style will be in trend and then the next a whole new look comes in place. There are basically kings of the 'cancel' culture where media has such a huge impact on celebrities and companies. Once word gets out of a scandal of some sort, the people will quickly turn on even the most well-respected celebrities or companies.
