Korean Family Culture in K-Dramas

Korean Family Culture often feels warm, confusing, and surprisingly intense to foreign viewers watching K-dramas.

When watching K-dramas, there are moments that may make you tilt your head and wonder what is going on.

To foreign viewers, Korean family relationships can sometimes look incredibly warm. But at other times, they may feel like a complete mystery that is hard to understand.

As a Korean, I am so used to these scenes that I do not always notice them. But when I look at Western culture from a Korean perspective, there are also moments when I think, “Wait, that feels a little unfamiliar.”

I think foreign viewers may feel something similar when they see Korean Family Culture in K-dramas.

When we encounter an unfamiliar culture, it can feel fascinating, strange, and sometimes make us ask, “Is it really like that?”

So today, we are talking about family scenes in Korean dramas.

More specifically, this article looks at the moments of Korean Family Culture that foreign viewers often wonder about while watching K-dramas, and explains them from a Korean perspective.

With Yuni’s heart, I hope this article helps answer some of those questions.

1. “Did You Eat?” — Reply 1988

I talked about this phrase in a little more detail in a previous article.

K-Drama Food Scenes: Why Korean Meals Say More Than Words
https://whatinseoulkorea.com/k-drama-food-meaning/

In K-dramas, scenes where the family gathers around the table appear very often.

Especially in dramas like Reply 1988, you often see the whole family sitting around one table, sharing a single pot of stew, while the mother takes care of everyone’s meal before finally eating her own.

Foreign viewers may be surprised by scenes like this.

In Korean Family Culture, rice and meals are not just food. A meal is a way of asking how someone is doing. It is worry, love, and the most everyday language of caring for family.

In Korea, many families do not say “I love you” very often.

Instead, they say things like this.

Inside these words, there is a very Korean kind of affection and care.

That is why the dining table in K-dramas is not just a place to eat. It is often used as a space where emotions move between family members.

Please also read the previous post. It will help you understand why food in Korean dramas often says more than words.

2. Why Koreans Use Honorifics with Their Parents — Extraordinary Attorney Woo

One thing foreign viewers often wonder about is the way Korean children use honorific speech with their parents.

Not only in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, but also in many dramas that show Korean Family Culture, adult children may speak very politely to their parents or treat their parents’ opinions with great care.

For Western viewers, this may feel a little unfamiliar.

In Korea, the way you speak and behave changes depending on who the other person is, whether they are older or younger, whether you are meeting them for the first time, and how close the relationship is.

One major reason is that the Korean language has a very clear structure of formal speech and casual speech.

Koreans usually use polite speech not only with older people, but also with people they meet for the first time.

Even if the other person is younger, many Koreans will still use polite speech when they first meet them.

Just like an elderly man asking directions may still speak politely to a young person, Korean honorific speech is not only about age. It is also a basic attitude of respect.

Of course, not every child uses honorific speech with their parents.

Some families use polite speech with parents. Some families speak casually. Some families mix both depending on the situation.

Families that are more open and friendly often use casual speech more comfortably, while more traditional families tend to use honorifics more often.

In Korean Family Culture, honorifics are not just a way of speaking.

They carry respect, distance, manners, and the order of relationships.

That is why Koreans often feel uncomfortable when someone they just met suddenly speaks casually to them. It can feel rude, disrespectful, or bad-mannered.

But when foreigners use casual Korean by mistake while learning the language, the atmosphere can be a little different.

It may even feel cute, and Koreans may want to help them. Haha.

Honorific and casual speech in dramas are both tools that show Korean relationship culture.

And inside them, you can see one important feature of Korean Family Culture: the way language changes depending on the relationship.

3. Parental Interference?
Or the Future of the Whole Family?
— SKY Castle

When a child’s grades or career become the joy and sorrow of the parents, foreign viewers often have many questions.

Honestly, this still exists to some degree.

Things are changing a lot today, but in families with strong educational ambition or in households that care deeply about social status, this kind of atmosphere can still appear strongly.

This part is also connected to Korean history.

Korea is a small country. Historically, it went through many invasions and did not have many natural energy resources.

One of the strongest forces that allowed such a country to grow globally in a short period of time was education.

For a small and powerless country, learning was one of the most powerful weapons.

Even King Sejong created Hangul so that more people could learn, read, and think.

Perhaps because of that, the belief that “you must study well” continued for a long time.

And that learning naturally became connected to evaluation and comparison.

In Korean Family Culture, a child’s grades and success were often not seen as the child’s personal matter alone.

If a child entered a good school, got a good job, and lived a stable life, it became the parents’ joy and pride.

Korean parents getting deeply involved in their children’s lives is not always just about wanting to interfere.

It can also be seen as a “family project” that comes from a strong Korean sense of community, where the child’s success is considered the happiness of the whole family.

There is an old Korean saying: “A dragon rises from a small stream.”

This expression often appears in dramas too.

It means that a great person has come from a very humble background.

In the past, if a child from a small village became a prosecutor or a doctor, the whole neighborhood might celebrate, and a banner might even be hung at the village entrance. Haha.

This culture became even stronger as Korean society changed rapidly after the Korean War.

The older generation of parents suffered so much that they did not want their children to live the same difficult life.

Many parents strongly believed this.

So they farmed, sold their cows, and did whatever they could to send their children to college.

In the beginning, this came from a very pure place.

It was simply the wish for their children to live well.

But as Korea became wealthier, that pure heart also began to turn into competition.

Competition between parents started, and children sometimes began to look like their parents’ report cards.

Some parents began to package their children like luxury brands, giving them everything they wanted while pressuring them to “study hard and succeed.”

I think SKY Castle is one of the strongest dramas that shows this culture.

SKY Castle sharply reveals another face of Korean Family Culture.

Of course, the drama shows an extreme example.

Most parents push their children to study because they want them to do well and believe they should try their best while they can.

Why?

Because many Korean parents still believe that studying is the most realistic path for their children to succeed.

What about Yuni?

I was a little different. Haha.

Instead of telling my children to study, I told them to go outside and play. I taught them that school was a place to meet friends and experience social life, so they should enjoy it.

And yet, my children still went to the universities they wanted on their own.

Parental interference?

I admit that it has a big place in Korean Family Culture.

But behind it, there is love and worry for the child.

The complicated part of Korean Family Culture is that this love can sometimes feel too heavy.

4. Even My Own Life, If It Is for Family —
Squid Game

In Squid Game, you see characters risking their lives for their families, paying for a parent’s hospital bills, or trying to take responsibility for the family’s survival.

Foreign viewers may wonder about scenes like this.

Sacrifice for family.

Honestly, this is where Yuni almost wants to say, “Isn’t that obvious?”

Instead, I want to ask this.

If your family is struggling, how can you pretend not to see it?

Korean Family Culture may sometimes look like it goes too far, but inside Korean emotion, consideration flows like a basic foundation.

Basic plus basic plus basic.

And we do that for family.

I have said before that Korea is a country where people use the word “our” more often than “my.”

This word “our” has a lot of power.

Inside this word, there is unity, ownership, responsibility, and care.

In Korean Family Culture, family was often seen not just as a group of individuals, but as one community, and sometimes even as one economic unit.

Taking care of family can become a big part of the reason a person exists.

That is why, for family, a mother may go out and work as a cleaner, and a father may work two or three jobs.

Of course, not every family lives like a warm drama.

Some families fight terribly. Some families carry deep wounds. Some families become distant from each other.

Korean Family Culture is not always beautiful.

But many Koreans do carry a deep desire to care for their family.

Inside this emotion, which has settled almost like a culture, children want to support their parents, parents want to support their children, and siblings want to help and protect one another.

Maybe this is similar to what Yuni teaches her children.

Of course, younger generations in Korea are becoming much more individualistic.

Someday, this sacrifice-centered family culture may become harder to see in Korea too.

But even today, there is still a feeling inside Korean Family Culture that sacrificing a little more for family is natural.

Family love does not exist only in Korea. I believe parents’ hearts are similar all over the world.

But in Korean dramas, that family love is often expressed more strongly, more heavily, and sometimes more extremely.

That may be why it creates even more curiosity for foreign viewers.

5. Ancestral Rites, a Strict Ceremony
for Remembering Ancestors — Our Blues

In dramas like Our Blues, you may see ancestral rites or family ceremonies.

For foreign viewers, ancestral rites can be a very unfamiliar part of Korean culture.

Yuni has been going to church for about 30 years. Before that, my family also held ancestral rites.

Ancestral rites are often held on the death anniversary of parents, grandparents, a husband or wife, or during major holidays.

They are part of Confucian culture, where people remember and honor the deceased with formality and respect.

To understand this culture more clearly, it may help to look at ancestral rites in a traditional head family.

A head family, or jongga, refers to the main household of a family lineage. It is the family line that has continued through the eldest sons from the original ancestor.

Honestly, a traditional head family feels almost like a living museum filled with history and tradition.

That is because it serves as the center where all the elders of the family gather.

Some traditional head families hold ancestral rites dozens of times a year.

Confucianism carried the belief that ancestors watch over and help their descendants.

That is why ancestral rites held in traditional head families are prepared more elaborately and carefully than almost any other family ceremony.

The day of the ancestral rite was once thought of as a day when the ancestors visited and shared a meal.

People believed that preparing this occasion with sincerity would bring blessings to the descendants and the family line.

This ceremony is also an act of “remembering” for Koreans, and a time when family members gather again.

There are even rules for where each ancestral rite food should be placed.

There are many complicated rules like this for setting the ancestral table.

Korean ancestral rite culture has so much history, origin, depth, and meaning that it could become an entire series of posts, not just one article.

Hopefully, someday Yuni can explain ancestral rites in more detail.

In any case, ancestral rites are about “remembering” and “gathering together.”

They have a powerful ability to bring scattered family members back to one place.

In a light way, you could call it a family party for the ancestors.

In a heavier way, you could call it a form of respect toward the ancestors who protect the family line.

In modern Korea, many families no longer hold ancestral rites.

Some Christian families do not do them for religious reasons, and some families choose to simplify or skip them after discussing it together.

Another interesting change is that ancestral rite culture has also become part of a service industry.

These days, ancestral rites are changing into forms that fit the busy lives of modern people, such as ancestral rite food delivery services, ancestral rite preparation companies, and memorial services at cemeteries or columbariums.

Daryewon is one example of how ancestral rite culture is changing into a modern service in Korea.

For example, if you look at an ancestral rite service like Daryewon, you can get a more realistic sense of how ancestral rite culture is changing in modern Korea.

Some people may say, “Isn’t that lacking sincerity?”

But from the perspective of busy modern people, this can also be seen as an “evolution of ancestral rites,” carrying the desire to remember one’s ancestors in whatever way is possible.

Tradition does not always stay frozen in one form.

Sometimes, it slowly changes its shape to fit the times.

6. The 90-Degree Bow — Crash Landing on You

The 90-degree bow.

This is another scene foreign viewers often wonder about.

Well, I think this needs to be explained in several different situations.

In Korean Family Culture, a 90-degree bow appears more often in special situations.

For example, when the man dating the eldest daughter comes to meet her parents for the first time? Haha.

Or when someone has saved your life, helped you in a major way, or when you want to express deep gratitude to a teacher or elder, you may bow at a 90-degree angle.

A 90-degree bow is more than just polite behavior.

The angle of the bow can show the depth of your feeling, the level of your gratitude, and the emotional distance within the relationship.

There is also another situation where Koreans often use a 90-degree bow: as a sign of deep apology.

In particular, public figures such as politicians, celebrities, and business leaders are often seen bowing deeply when they make an official apology in front of the public.

From a foreigner’s point of view, it may look like, “Why are they lowering their body that much?”

But in Korea, instead of only saying “I’m sorry,” people often use the act of lowering the body to show the weight of the apology.

In this case, the 90-degree bow is not just a greeting.

It is closer to a symbolic action that shows responsibility and sincere apology.

Outside of this, stricter forms of bowing can also appear in the military, companies, and organizational culture.

The bowing scenes in Crash Landing on You can be understood as showing the strict manners, controlled lifestyle, and discipline of military society.

In everyday Korea, most people usually give a light nod or a simple bow.

But within Korean Family Culture and Korean social culture, bowing is not just a physical movement.

A bow can contain respect, manners, gratitude, apology, emotional distance, and the position of the relationship.

7. Neighborhood Elders Can Become Everyone’s Grandmother — Welcome to Samdal-ri

In dramas like Welcome to Samdal-ri, you may hear people call someone “grandmother,” “uncle,” or “auntie” even when they are not actually related.

For foreign viewers, this can feel a little strange.

Haha.

In Korea, people may call a woman working at a restaurant “imo,” which means auntie. In gatherings, someone older who becomes close may be called “unni” or “hyung.”

This is connected to Korea’s warm culture of jeong, the emotional bond that often exists within small communities.

In many countries, people usually call each other by name.

But in Korea, these family-like titles can sometimes feel warmer and closer than names.

Of course, you should not use these expressions carelessly at work.

In the workplace, job titles, names, and official forms of address are important.

But once you step outside the workplace and enter a neighborhood, restaurant, gathering, or small community, the atmosphere changes.

In that moment, people can become a little more like close neighbors.

The villages in dramas where everyone seems like family are usually small communities.

They are close to what you may actually see in small rural towns.

People living busy city lives do not always use these expressions as often as they do in dramas.

So when you see this kind of scene in a drama, you can think like this.

One interesting thing about Korean Family Culture is that the meaning of family does not always stop at blood relations.

When emotional bonds build up, neighbors can feel like family. Elders you have known for a long time can feel like grandmothers, uncles, or aunties.

This can be seen as Korean Family Culture expanding into community culture.

These titles become a kind of relationship map.

If you watch Hospital Playlist, you can experience Korean title culture quite realistically.

To foreign viewers, these titles may seem extremely complicated.

In Korea, a title is not just a name you use to call someone.

A title is a social code that sets the distance between you and the other person.

The moment you use a title, you are no longer complete strangers.

A relationship is created, positions are set, and emotional distance is adjusted.

Using family titles even when someone is not actually family.

This is Korean Family Culture expanding into social relationships.

When people get a little closer, they may become oppa, unni, hyung, or noona. At a restaurant, someone may become imo. A neighborhood elder may become halmeoni.

And inside these titles, there is a sense of “we.”

That is why Koreans often try to take care of people a little more than necessary once they become close.

In a good way, it is jeong. If it feels a little too much, it becomes ojirap, or being nosy. Haha.

But at the root of that nosiness, there is often the feeling of “I care about you.”

The way people care for each other inside Korean Family Culture also appears in social relationships.

Conclusion: Dramas May Exaggerate,
But the Emotion Is Real

All the scenes we talked about today are connected by one thing.

All of these are traces of “we,” consideration, love, responsibility, and jeong flowing inside Korean Family Culture.

Of course, not every Korean family lives like a drama.

Korea is changing a lot today.

Younger generations place more importance on personal choice and independence, and their thoughts on marriage and family roles have changed greatly compared to the past.

But Korean Family Culture in K-dramas is not a completely made-up fantasy.

Some parts are exaggerated, but inside them are emotions and relationship behaviors that still remain in real Korean society.

Korean Family Culture is warm, but sometimes heavy. It is love, but sometimes it feels like pressure. It is worry, but sometimes it looks like interference. It is consideration, but sometimes it becomes nosiness.

So it is natural for foreign viewers to feel unfamiliar when they watch family scenes in K-dramas.

They are not simply watching strange families.

They are watching Korean Family Culture, where love and duty, respect and pressure, jeong and responsibility all sit together at the same table.

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