Dodori Korea TripCulture
Korean etiquette, the parts that actually come up
Most Korean etiquette lists are written for someone moving here permanently, which means they bury the six things a visitor actually runs into under ninety you will never touch. This is the short version - what changes how a meal, a taxi ride or a round of drinks actually goes, and what you can stop worrying about.
The one that actually gets enforced: shoes
This is not a suggestion. Shoes come off at the door of any home, most guesthouses, many restaurants with floor seating, and every temple interior. The giveaway is a raised step or a shelf of shoes at the entrance - if you see one, yours join it.
The reason is not squeamishness. Ondol floor heating means people sit and sometimes sleep directly on the floor, and a floor that has had shoes on it all day is not somewhere you want bare feet, or somewhere a host wants their family sitting. Socks are expected; bare feet in a formal setting reads slightly worse but nobody will say anything.
Restaurants with chairs and tables generally do not require this. Look for the raised platform with low tables - that is your signal.
Money and business cards move with two hands
Handing someone money, a business card, or a gift with one hand is not rude exactly, but doing it with two - or your free hand lightly supporting your wrist - is read as more respectful, especially with anyone visibly older or in a formal context. Store clerks and casual exchanges do not require this. A hotel check-in, a formal introduction, or handing your passport to an official does.
This connects to something bigger than a hand gesture: Korean has grammar that runs on relative age, and small physical courtesies like this one follow the same logic. Nobody expects a visitor to get it perfect. The two-hand version is simply the safer default when you are unsure.
Drinking has one real rule: not your own glass
If you end up at a table with soju or beer poured for the group, the custom is that you do not pour your own drink - you fill others' glasses, and they fill yours. Refusing a drink is fine and increasingly normal; it is watching your own glass sit empty while filling everyone else's that would be strange.
The other half of this, which visitors hear about more than they see in practice: turning slightly away and covering the glass when drinking in front of someone clearly older, particularly in a formal round. It matters more in an office dinner (회식) than a bar with friends your own age, and as a visitor nobody will hold you to it strictly. Knowing it exists is enough - if you see a Korean colleague do it, that is what is happening.
No tipping, anywhere
Korea has no tipping culture. Not at restaurants, not in taxis, not for hotel staff. (The mechanics of a Korean restaurant - the kiosk, the water, the two-portion minimum - are in the ordering food guide; this page is about the habits around the table.) A tip is not simply unnecessary - handing cash to a server as a gratuity can visibly confuse them, because the gesture does not map to anything they are expecting. Service is priced in. The one place this loosens is a few high-end hotels and international-chain establishments used to foreign guests, where a tip will be accepted without incident but still is not expected.
Splitting the bill is a foreign import, and "who pays" has an older pattern
Card readers that split a bill evenly across a group are common now, so splitting is completely normal and nobody will blink. But the older pattern, still very much alive, is that one person pays for the whole table, usually whoever is oldest or who did the inviting, and the group reciprocates over time rather than per meal. If a Korean friend or colleague insists on paying and waves you off, that is this pattern in motion, not generosity you need to fight. The polite move is to let it happen once and pick up a smaller bill - coffee after, the next round - yourself.
The bow is smaller than you think, and a handshake works
A slight nod of the head covers almost every greeting a visitor will have. The deep, formal bow from the waist belongs to specific ceremonial moments (a funeral, a formal apology, New Year's to elders) that a visitor is very unlikely to be part of. In business or any introduction, a handshake is completely normal, often paired with that same small nod. You are not expected to know the choreography - matching what the other person offers is enough.
What a visitor can stop worrying about
Guides written for long-term residents pile on rules about honorific speech levels, seating order at formal dinners, and gift-wrapping colors. None of it is wrong, and none of it is something a short visit will test you on - Korean hosts do not expect a foreign visitor to know grammar registers or banquet seating, and getting those wrong reads as foreign, not rude. The six things above are the ones that actually change what happens in a room. Everything past that is for someone staying long enough to need it. If you are hoping to meet people rather than only observe them, how visitors actually make friends here is the other half of this page.
Getting one of these wrong is not the disaster it feels like in the moment. Reaching for a glass with one hand or leaving your shoes on by accident reads as foreign, which you are - it does not read as rude. Nobody is grading you on this list. It exists so the handful of moments that do land differently do not catch you by surprise.
Quick answers: Korean etiquette
Do you take your shoes off in Korea?
Yes, at the door of any home, most guesthouses, restaurants with floor seating and every temple interior. The signal is a raised step or a shelf of shoes at the entrance. Restaurants with ordinary chairs and tables generally do not require it.
Is tipping expected in Korea?
No. There is no tipping culture in restaurants, taxis or hotels, and handing cash to a server can visibly confuse them. A few high-end hotels used to foreign guests will accept a tip, but it is still not expected.
What are the drinking rules in Korea?
One that matters: you do not pour your own drink. You fill others' glasses and they fill yours. Refusing a drink is fine. Turning away and covering the glass in front of someone older is real but mostly for formal office dinners, and nobody holds a visitor to it.
Do I need to bow in Korea?
A slight nod covers almost every greeting a visitor will have, and a handshake is completely normal in business or any introduction. The deep bow from the waist belongs to ceremonial moments a visitor is unlikely to be part of.
This page is based on Korea Tourism Organization, etiquette guidance, Seoul Metropolitan Government, foreign resident guidance. Checked against the published source on the date below.
LAST VERIFIED 20 SEPTEMBER 2026