The late eminent literary and cultural critic Lee O-young once told me an intriguing thing about a popular song that enchanted Koreans in the 1970s called “The Man in A Yellow Shirt.” He pointed out that the title of the song should have been “Somehow, I like him” because the whole point of the song centers on the phrase “somehow, I like him,” not on his “yellow shirt.” According to Lee, “somehow, I like him” reflects a uniquely Korean sentiment.

The lyrics of “The Man in A Yellow shirt,” sung by Han Myung-sook in 1974, go like this: “That reticent man in a yellow shirt. Somehow, I like him. Somehow, he comes into my favor/ Though not good-looking, he looks vibrant. Somehow, I like him. Somehow, he comes into my favor, / Oh, what a strange feeling! I do not know why, but he strikes my fancy/ Ah, I wonder if he has feelings for me, too/ The reticent man in a yellow shirt. Somehow, I like him. Somehow, he comes into my favor.”

Indeed, in the song, the woman is attracted to the man without a particular reason. Neither the color of his shirt nor his reticence is the reason for her feelings for him. She just finds that “somehow” she likes him in petto. Koreans do not seem to need logical explanations for what they like. They just “somehow” like or do not like someone or something furtively.

In a country where reason and logic are important, a woman might be attracted to a man for logical reasons, such as his physical traits, charming personality or social status. Of course, many women are often attracted to those things, and yet to traditional Korean women, the vague feeling that “somehow, I like him” seems to come before any more specific reasons.

Of course, love is a logical fallacy and thus defies logic. That is why they say, “Cupid is stupid,” and marriage between beauty and the beast happens frequently. But the unique Korean sentiment, “somehow,” is not limited to love alone. Indeed, Koreans frequently say “somehow” in daily expressions, such as “somehow, I don’t want to go,” “somehow, I don’t like it, or “somehow, I knew it.”

Another uniquely Korean thing is “shinbaram,” which means to “get in high spirits.” “Shin” means God, and “baram” means wind in Korean. When sinbaram blows in their minds, Koreans are elated and get a buzz out of their work. They can unite and do something together in their excitement. For this reason, shinbaram can be a powerful force for Koreans to overcome a national crisis.

“Nunchi” or to “study another’s face” is another notable thing that is uniquely Korean. Indeed, Koreans tend to read other people’s faces frequently. In Korean, “His nunchi is fast” means “He does not have a problem of demeanor” or “He is a sensible, perceptive man.” Nunchi also implies that Koreans care what others think. Perhaps that is why Korean politicians try to read Russian officials’ faces when they want to help Ukraine, and study Chinese leaders’ faces when they have a summit meeting with the US.

The Korean political climate, too, is different from that of other countries. For example, it is common that young people are liberals and older people are conservatives. In Korea, however, strangely, things are quite the opposite. It is well known that older Koreans in their forties, fifties and even sixties tend to be progressives, and many young people in their twenties and thirties lean conservative.

If the above is true, it is raises questions in the West, which has an aphorism that, “If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, but if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.” Is Korea, then, a country of heartless and brainless people? Of course not. How, then, can you explain this strange phenomenon?

The thing to realize is that in Korea, older people suffered under right-wing military dictatorships when they were in college or secondary school, which effectively turned them into lifelong anti-right-wing people. This does not mean they are actually liberals; they are just left-wingers who sympathize with progressivism. Watching their parents advocate socialism and leftwing ideology while they also savored the benefits of capitalism, young Koreans become anti-left-wing in reaction. Strictly speaking, therefore, younger Koreans are not right-wing conservatives, either. They are just anti-left-wingers who disapprove of socialism and progressivism.

The foreign press calls the Korean Democratic Party of Korea a liberal party, which is not correct. Perhaps the Democratic Party should be called a “progressive party” because it is hardly liberal in essence. Liberalism approves of “liberal thoughts, liberal democracy and liberal education, in addition to individual rights, free markets and private property.” But Korean democrats seem to disapprove of such things. Their attempt to change the designation “liberal democracy” to simply “democracy” during the Moon Jae-in administration is a good example.

To understand Korea better, foreigners should know things that are uniquely Korean.

Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. --Ed.


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