Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Starla]

Please give me the true reason why we don't wear shoes indoors in Korea. I suspect it's due to cleanliness, the fact that the floors are heated with water and thereby "special" or that it's to show respect to others. But I'm not sure which. I have yet to get a clear answer from Koreans.

All I know is that one of my co-workers came to my apartment the other day to help me move in some heavy things and I accidentally forgot to take off my shoes as I was transporting the bags into my apartment. Her reaction was, "Do you always forget to take off your shoes?" in that kind of scolding, mothering way. I apologized but this is not something I've ever been obligated to do in the U.S. so it takes some getting used to here.

I also have to change into my slippers in the school even though the hallways are dirty as are the classrooms. The kids run around in their socks in the classrooms which become soiled by the end of the day. What's the point of it then? As a secret, sometimes, I try on new shoes on my floors and walk around in them.

[EuroFunk]

Not sure how to answer your question, but it's not only in Korea. I can see how it is a way to keep the inside clean with minimal effort, but to add to your question....

What about if you are wearing sandals/flip flops and have to walk indoors, but you aren't wearing any socks? What happens then?

[Draz]

Because outside dirt is dirtier than inside dirt. Duh!

I used to take off my shoes all the time, but now that I have slippers at home I don't bother sometimes.

[OBwannabe]

What I don't understand is your question. Perhaps it's because I'm from a place with 4 distinct season much like Korea, but I've always known people to take off their shoes. I'd be quite put off if someone walked into my place back home with their shoes on.

Coming inside with shoes on tracks in dirt, and wettness(on rainy and snowy days.) Seems like common sense to me to take them off.

I once had a South African tell me that he didn't take off his shoes whilst going inside either. Are you from S.A.? Or perhaps on the the southern states of the US?

Besides, if you leave you shoes on all the time, don't they get super funky?

[robot]

The true reason that Korea, like most of the civilized world, removes their footware is because they aren't barbaric savages.

If you don't mind footprinting a trail of sewer filth, adjosshi puke and whatnot across your own living room, though, all the power to you.

[VanIslander]

because they sit on the floor


(end of conversation)

[OBwannabe]

[okokok]

I think most Canadians take off their shoes when going inside someone's home. I can appreciate walking barefoot on a nice, clean, thick carpet. Makes your home nice and comfortable.

I dated a girl from Seattle once and she and her roommates didn't take off their shoes. Their carpet was disgusting and being inside the house wasn't much different than being outside.



*I believe the OP is from the Big Apple

[Starla]

I'll try to reply to all of you in one post. To robot, I would like to think of myself as civilized. Yes, I think I am. In my home country, we also take off our shoes when we go in someone's home. It's meant to keep the house clean. But if we forget in a moment of absent-mindedness, we're not scolded for it in our home by somebody who doesn't live with us and we don't practice it so religiously. Koreans seem to do it without thinking. In the U.S. though, I've gotten accustomed to not always taking shoes off, especially if I keep going in and out of the apartment and the shoes take some effort to put on and take off.

As for the flip flop/no sock question, I wear slippers in that situation. I don't dig the barefoot thing here in Korea because floors are still dirty.

[seoulteacher]

[Starla]

[Young FRANKenstein]

It's not like Korea is the only country that does this. Most Asian countries do this. I've never known anyone back home (Canada) who has worn their shoes indoors. Everyone takes them off at the door.

[Bread]

In Japan it's because of the tatami floors in traditional houses. When the Japanese occupied Korea, if a Korean entered a building wearing shoes, the Japanese would disembowel them with a paper fan (the origin of "fan death"). And you know how it is, once you've got a tradition, you're pretty much stuck with it.

[JungMin]

Growing up, my Mom would have fucking killed me if I wore my shoes in the house (outside of the tiled area around the backdoor/laundry room). Just makes sense really.

[Zaria32]

I've lived in 11 states in the US...in none of them did people normally take their shoes off indoors. Living in Korea I've discovered (oh, what a news flash) that not wearing shoes indoors does, indeed, keep the indoors cleaner, a lot cleaner.

I suspect not wearing shoes indoors is not just for one reason...floors are warm in winter and comfortable underfoot...Koreans sleep, sit and eat at, on, or very near, the floor level. The linoleum that covers Korean subfloors is not nearly as thick as in this US, and has a more fragile surface. Therefore it is more subject to tearing and wear from shoes and boots.