Do ordinary South Koreans know about Taiwan? The answer may surprise you. South Koreans are generally social creatures and will often share a meal. So you might expect the meeting to be larger than you had thought and take a little longer than you expected. Also, remember that South Koreans prefer to use honorific titles instead of full names. Therefore, be sure to present yourself with the appropriate titles, surnames, and business cards.
Although Taiwan was part of the Chinese empire, the South Koreans were not aware of its existence until 1992, when they recognized the People’s Republic of China. By then, most of the country’s citizens had forgotten about it, and most of those in their twenties and thirties confused Taiwan with Thailand. However, in 2009, the anti-Korean protests and sensational news stories highlighting Taiwan’s role in the history of the peninsula led Koreans to learn more about Taiwan. It is no secret that Taiwan accused South Korea of cheating in international tournaments, using the fear of losing trade with it as a political tool.
However, in the meantime, ordinary South Koreans were reaffirming the decades-long pattern of civic activism in the country. In Taiwan, the Constitutional Court had declared communist speech unconstitutional, and the South Korean Constitutional Court dissolved the socialist Unified Progressive Party and disqualified its members from the National Assembly. This demonstrated the legitimacy of Taiwan’s democracy, but it did not prevent the country from falling further into a dictatorship. ufabet
