Koreans and foreigners alike consider Korea’s staple culture to be its quick and convenient food delivery service.

Now a survey has backed this up.

According to an online survey conducted by the Corea Image Communication Institute, a majority of both Korean and foreign respondents, 54.60 percent and 50.87 percent, respectively, agreed that the fast food delivery service was their favorite part of Korean culture.

In second place came the late operating hours, with 20.90 percent of Koreans and 22.61 percent of foreigners stating that they enjoy the fact that many shops are open 24 hours.

“The fact that the singer Psy portrayed Korea’s delivery food culture in his internationally-watched music videos may have contributed to its popularity,” said the CICI in a press release.

The survey asked 308 Koreans what aspects of Korea they felt most pride in and 232 foreigners what they enjoyed most while visiting.

Koreans and foreigners alike also chose Korea’s “ppali ppali” mindset as a distinguishing part of the culture, which means “quickly quickly” and refers to Korean people’s tendency to rush things along.

Korean restaurants were deemed to be the most popular tourist dining spots by both Koreans and foreigners, with 75.70 percent and 76.96 percent of votes, respectively.

While 12.50 percent of Koreans guessed that tourists would seek out street food such as tteokbokki, 10.43 percent of foreigners replied that they prefer cuisine from other Asian regions such as pho noodles and sushi. The third most commonly eaten food for tourists was western cuisine such as pasta and steak, with 4.78 percent of votes.

For shopping spots, 45.8 percent of Koreans said they would introduce tourists to traditional marketplaces, while 42.67 percent of foreigners said they would prefer the more contemporary road shops and shopping streets, possibly due to the fact that English communication is easier in downtown areas.

When it comes to souvenirs, both groups picked traditional Korean craftwork as the best item to shop for in Korea, with 53.70 percent of Korean votes and 48.91 percent of foreign votes.

Korean cosmetics came second for foreigners at 22.26 percent.

By Rumy Doo (bigbird@heraldcorp.com)