Bowing

I like this custom. I've always wanted people to bow to me... but my family has resisted.

Bowing is a sign of respect; it's as simple as that. It's very common to see Koreans bowing to elders, superiors at work, older classmates, etc. Much like Americans shake hands, bowing can be used as a greeting in Korea. It can also be used to convey thanks or an apology.

If you meet a Korean Emperor you would bow to 90 degrees; but nowadays you might only incline yourself 10 or 15 degrees with everyday bowing. (The last Korean Empire ended in 1910 so the likelihood of running into an Emperor is probably pretty small. Today South Korea is a Constitutional Republic very similar to the United States.)

By the way, just to show you how different norms are so entrenched I tried desperately to get an image showing someone bowing. The Wix website does not have any image for that. They have western style handshakes as shown here, they have islamic prayer bowing, they have judo bowing, but they do not have what I would call Asian Respectful Bowing. I believe that's because Wix is a western company and bowing has a different meaning in the West than in Asia. It's unfortunate, in my opinion, that this societal prejudice comes into play in this situation.

As Judy has pointed out, bowing has taken the place of handshakes in Korean culture. (Of course the COVID pandemic has completely upended all our reasons for handshakes. We might have to resort to bowing to take their place in our culture.) In fact, any handholding that we see in Kdramas is akin to a prelude in a relationship. It pretty much means, "OK, let's be a COUPLE"! ~Pat