The contemporary culture of South Korea developed from the traditional culture of Korea, and on its own path away from North Korean culture since the division of Korea in 1948. The industrialization and urbanization of South Korea, especially Seoul, have brought many changes to the way Korean people live. Changing economics and lifestyles have led to a concentration of population in major cities (and depopulation of the rural countryside), with multi-generational households separating into nuclear family living arrangements.

Foreign influences

South Korea has been highly influenced in recent years by foreign countries; initially the primary influence was from the United States and Japan (mostly during and after the Japanese occupation). Many people enjoyed watching American films. The influence of foreign countries has changed peoples' eating habits as well; many people now enjoy Western and other Asian foods in addition to traditional Korean food. Pizza is one of the favorite foreign foods among South Koreans, though it tends to differ from the pizza served in the west, often featuring corn, sweet potato, mayonnaise, bulgogi and various other ingredients. Many Western hamburger, chicken, coffee, and ice cream chains are also very popular in South Korea. Coffeehouses operated by 12 major brands increased to over 2,000 locations in 2010,^[2] and the term "coffice" (커피스)^[3] was coined to describe using a cafe as an office.^[4]
South Korean dress is also being more heavily influenced by foreign styles.
Recently, the Korean language has had a huge influx of English words, sometimes expressed as Konglish. Examples of Konglish:

• Eye shopping (ai syopping 아이 쇼핑) refers to 'window shopping'.
• Service (seobisseu 서비스) usually means 'complimentary', such as a gift with purchase or warranty service.
• Hand phone (hendeu pon 핸드폰) refers to 'mobile phone'.
• Paiting or Hwaiting (a loanword from 'fighting', English) is a phrase used to 'cheer' someone during a difficult trial.
• One shot is a phrase used while drinking similar to bottoms up, suggesting to down your drink in one go.

Also because the English alphabet has letters that do not exist in the Korean alphabet other letters are usually substituted for others when referring to certain English words. The letter F is replaced with the letter P and the letter Z replaced with the letter J:

• Kopi (coffee)
• Pija (pizza)
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Games

 

In recent years games, both online games and the traditional board game baduk have become a significant part of Korean culture. It is not uncommon to see games of baduk (also known as "Go" in Japanese) replayed for analysis on TV stations like KBS1.
StarCraft, the PC real-time strategy game, is by far the most popular televised game in Korea. Games are often broadcast on TV stations such as MBCGame and Ongamenet. These tournaments are usually broadcast live and have sizable crowds while they are recorded at shopping malls like COEX, in southeast Seoul. Professional StarCraft players can command considerable salaries in Korea, and are usually noted celebrities, such as Lim Yo-Hwan.
PC games are sometimes played in PC방 ("PC bang," PC room), which are similar to Internet cafes, and dedicated to LAN games of popular titles like Kart Rider, Maple Story, World of Warcraft, Mabinogi, Lineage and other Korean and foreign games. This is by far the preferred pastime for students but is enjoyed by Koreans of all ages, male and female.
In the drinking culture of South Korea often with a group of individuals, drinking games are played. A variety of games can be played within the group and can change with every coming round. The type of alcohol can vary, but more than likely soju, a common Korean liquor, is used when the games are being played.

Popular Musi

Many Korean pop stars and groups are well known throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia. K-pop often features young performers. In the 1970s and 1980s many musicians appeared, such as Cho Yong Pil, a renowned musician from that period. He used many sources such as the synthesizer. Among his influence, he is well known for popularizing rock music.
The emergence of the group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992 marked a turning point for Korean popular music, by incorporating elements of American popular musical genres of the 1990s. To illustrate, their popularity was based on innovative hybridization of music as they creatively mixed the genres like rap, soul, raock and roll. techno, punk, hardcore and even ppongjjak, and invented a unique musical form which 'employs rap only during the verses, singing choruses in a pop style' with dynamic dance movements. They showed how Korean rap would sound. Consequently, Seo Taiji and Boys expanded the scope of K-pop.^[7]
Popular artists who diverge from the K-pop sound include solo singers BoA, Lee Hyori, Rain (a.k.a. 'Bi' in Korea), rapper PSY, boy bands H.O.T, Shinhwa, TVXQ, Super Junior, BIGBANG, SHINee, 2PM, B1A4, EXO, F.T. Island, 2AM, CNBLUE, MBLAQ, SS501, Beast, U-Kiss, Infinite, Choshinsung, and girl groups Girls' Generation, 2NE1, Kara, Brown Eyed Girls, 4minute, After School, Wonder Girls, f(x), Miss A, Rainbow, Davichi, and many other artists. South Korea is also home to its own form of hip hop artists, including MC Mong, Epik High, Dynamic Duo, B.A.P. For that reason, BoA was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador, and has since contributed to restoring the good relations between Japan and South Korea. This sometimes leads the artists to debut in the other countries and stay active.
Some songs from popular groups formed dance crazes, such as "Mirotic" by TVXQ, "Sorry Sorry" and "Bonamana" by Super Junior, "Tell Me" and "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls, "Fire" and "I Am the Best" by 2NE1, "Fantastic Baby" by BIGBANG, "Sherlock" by SHINee, "Gee" by Girls' Generation, "Nu ABO" by f(x), "BTD by Infinite, "Beautiful Target" by B1A4 and "Gangnam Style" by PSY. These dance crazes would often spread quickly throughout Asia, inspiring many people to imitate them in talk shows, commercials, and even political campaigns. Because of their addictive sound and inspired dance crazes, some of these songs have subsequently won musical awards, such as the "Song of the Year".
K-Pop is a particularly catchy and calculating strain of Korean popular music that somehow manages to simultaneously sound like just about every contemporary musical genre, a conflation of the various strains of electronic dance music, mostly trance, electro, and dubstep arranged in conventional pop song structure. In addition to taking off in Asia in a big way, K-Pop has found some popularity in the United States, more as a subculture than as a bona fide phenomenon in the west.

In addition, there is also traditional Korean pop music, or trot. Appealing to older Koreans, there are many popular singers, including Tae Jin Ah, Na Hoon-a and Song Dae Kwan, mainly in their 50s and 60s, if not older. However, it has recently experienced a resurgence due to the popularity of Jang Yoon Jeong, a young semi-trot star who had a breakout hit with "Omona."

Noraebang

Karaoke is most commonly called "Noraebang" (노래방, literally, "song room") in Korea, but various Korean alternatives like Norae yeonseupjang (노래연습장), or Norae yeonseupshil (노래연습실) are also sometimes used. Noraebang is even conducted in transport vehicles such as tourist buses. Noraebang is the equivalent to the Karaoke-Box in Japan, whereas singing before an audience of a karaoke bar is called Karaoke (카라오케) in Korea

Dramas

Korean television and especially the short form dramatic mini-series colloquially called "dramas" by Koreans have become extremely popular outside of Korea. Dramas were foremost among cultural exports driving the Korean Wave trend in Asia and elsewhere. The trend has driven Korean stars to fame and has done much to boost the image and prestige of Korean popular culture. One example that the Korean wave of drama have come into existence is in 1997, when the national China Central Television Station (CCTV) aired a Korean television drama, What is Love All About?, turned out to be a big hit. In response to popular demand, CCTV re-aired the program in 1998 and recorded the second-highest ratings ever in the history of Chinese television. In 1999, in Taiwan and China, another Korean television drama serial Stars in My Heart, became a big hit. Since then, Korean television dramas have rapidly taken up airtime on television channels in countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, which saw media liberalization beginning in 1990s.^[8]
Dramas showcase a wide range of stories, but the most prominent among the export dramas have been romance (All About Eve, Autumn Fairy Tale, Winter Sonata, My Fair Lady, Stairway to Heaven, Full House, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, Goong, My Girl, Boys Over Flowers, Shining Inheritance, You're Beautiful, Secret Garden, Dream High) and historical fantasy dramas (Dae Jang Geum, Emperor of the Sea, Jumong, Sungkyunkwan Scandal). Korea has also aired their first blockbuster spy drama, IRIS.

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