KOREAN TRENDS 2019

Last year I got interested in books predicting trends for the coming year in Korea. And I love learning about new words coming into the language – one of the new words last year was  ‘Aloner‘ : people who want to do things alone. And according to Korean Trends 2019 (대한민국 트렌드 Korean) published by the Korea Economic Daily, that trend for solitary pursuits is still going strong.

This year the focus is on quality of life and quality time with an emphasis on work-life balance and the search for personal fulfilment in work and leisure time.

One big trend is the desire for hassle-free holidays in hotel!

LEISURE TRENDS

STAYCATIONS & ‘HO-CATIONS’

Fancy a hocance? A vacation in a hotel. 

So there’s this trend for wanting to spend quality time in a stress-free, safe haven. It could be a book shop, coin norebang singing room, study cafe, at home, or a HOTEL.

Staying in a hotel is the new type of vacation experience – this is NOT a holiday where you travel somewhere, stay at a hotel and go sightseeing or whatever. The hotel IS the holiday. And it’s usually in your local area!

And there are some new words to describe this type of VACATION. 

ho-cance (호캉스) is a vacation in a hotel often near your home! The ho of hotel is combined with the ‘cance‘  of ‘vacance‘ (the French word for vacation).

A high school student told me that she recently went on a ‘hocance‘ with her mum and sister for one night. The hotel was just 10 minutes from their home and they got the subway there and then just hung out in the hotel room watching TV! She liked using the amenities in the bathroom and just being in a different environment.

And how much are people willing to pay for this? 300,000 won is considered a fairly cheap hocance! Wow. It would never occur to me to spend money on something like that! But she said they really enjoyed themselves and had a stress-free holiday…

But if you’d like a room with a kitchen and cooking facilities you could take a  re-cance (레캉스) in a furnished residents suite. But if, like me, you don’t want to spend any money on hotels you can take a hom-cance (홈캉스 ) at home (i.e. staycation 스테이케이션).

Or how about a mall-cance (몰캉스) – a vacation in a shopping mall?!

The Oakwood Hotel in the COEX complex in Gangnam is advertising its hotel as a place where you can have two cances for the price of one: a ho-cance in their hotel (with a heated pool) AND a mall-cance at the connected COEX shopping mall. So you don’t have to go outside at all! Does it get any better than that? I don’t think so.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

UNTACT – AVOIDING FACE-TO-FACE CONTACT

Choosing lipstick with the help of technology: Arirang vide

(UN+CONTACT=non-contact)

untact is a trend I wrote about last year and involves using technology for services so that consumers can shop or eat out etc. without having to endure face-to-face contact with staff.

Opportunities for UNTACT experiences are increasing as more unmanned stores and opening replacing humans with new technology and robots. There are even convenience stores with face recognition and a new Hyundai Department Store to open in Yeouido in 2020 will be based on untact technology. The Winter Olympics used new unmanned technology including driverless buses to carry guests around Olympic village .

The trend for spending more time with technology particularly mobile phones seems to have led young consumers in particular to want to avoid face-to-face interactions in others parts of life too. Orders for food and coffee can also be made through apps to avoid speaking to shop staff. 

But the rise in untact is partly financial. President Moon carried out his promise to increase the minimum wage to 7,530 won per hour, a 16.4 percent increase with plans to raise it further this year. It was a controversial decision which has added to an increase in unmanned convenience stores as companies try to save money on manpower.

Samsung SDS explains the age of untact here.

SOCIETY TRENDS

CHALLENGING THE PATRIARCHIC & HIERARCHIC SOCIETY

Advertisements to increase public awareness of gapjil bullying 

Last year there were a few high profile cases of bosses abusing their positions. Yang Jin-ho, president of Korea Future Technology was filmed beating an employee. Earlier, in April 2018 Korean Air were in the news again when one of the chairman’s daughters (not nut-gate, the other one) created her own water-gate by throwing a cup of water in a fit of rage over an employee.

This is Gapjil. Where people in higher status positions abuse those ‘below’ them. Chaebol conglomerate bosses bullying smaller companies and employers paying desperate job seekers little or no wage are examples of gapjil.

But it’s not just conglomerate or super-rich bosses who are guilty of this. Gapjil is happening in all areas of society. So to try to deal with this problem Ad campaigns have been set up.

In this advert several customers seem to think it’s ok to behave badly to those in positions they clearly consider beneath their own: an assistant in a clothes shop, restaurant staff, and a flight attendant.

The advert is using a play on the word 벼슬 pyeo-sul which has two meanings: a government job (considered to be very high status) and the comb on a rooster’s head!

It suggests that when people start behaving arrogantly or try throwing their weight around, it’s because they believe they are like high ranking pyeo-sul and better than other people. But in the advert they are shown as roosters with a pyeo-sul on their heads and they look ridiculous. The advert tries to get the viewers to consider their attitude and behaviour towards others. And civic groups have been set up to help people who actually experience gapjil.

#ME TOO movement 

Women have been able to find their voice with the #Me Too movement particularly in politics and the entertainment world. And since sexual crimes tend to happen when there is an unbalance of power between superiors and subordinates, they are surely also experiencing a form of gapjil.

In the past when victims tried to come forward the finger of blame would turn back to them, but this time there’s more public support for victims of sexual abuse indicating another change in society and stance against the patriarchal, authoritarian society. Read more about the #Me Too movement in Asia. 

Don’t become a gondae (꼰대) in the workplace! 

gondae is a word with a negative connotation that describes the older, authoritarian man in the office who believes his opinions are always right and clings to the traditional view that hierarchy -based on age and rank – is more important than ability. 

He’s the one who will march over to younger employees in the office if he sees something that he doesn’t approve of and inform the young whippersnappers about their ‘lack of manners’ or teach them what they SHOULD do. 

In the past, the gondae may have been tolerated but now the working environment is changing and TRENDS 2019 warns the reader against becoming a gondae and offers a questionnaire for him to make sure that he is not a gondae!

Now rather than simply obeying elders in the workplace, there is an emphasis on emotional capital – mutual respect and trying to understanding situations from the other’s point of view. Sounds good to me. But older managers have told me that they are struggling with this and are having to adapt their management skills to deal with changing attitudes.

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The fight against gapjil and abuse of power can only be a positive step. And if you enjoy spending time alone and would rather deal with a computer than a human being or fancy taking a holiday in a hotel then 2019 is going to be a good year for you!

From the Winter Olympics to the Inter-Korean Summit to the Me Too movement, 2018 was a busy year. See my review of Korea in 2018 here.