The most typical quality of people in Korea is conservatism influenced by Confucianism. This ideology governed my country for five hundred years of the Yi Dynasty. Such a philosophy has been handed down to modern Koreans. So people in my country are even today considerably conservative. But nowadays people are likely to think of themselves as progressive and that their ways of thinking is open, because society is open and international. In my opinion, they still seem to be very conservative.
        To begin with, Korean people usually make a distinction between men and women. They insist that men must give the impression of men, and women must give the impression of women. They also think there is a difference between a man's role and a woman's role. Their ancestors lived with such a thought in the Yi Dynasty. Because people of today grew up seeing it, they accept that thought naturally. For example, they think boys must play with imitation swords and girls with dolls. If it is the other way round, adults will scold the children. Also, they think the role in the home should be different for men and women. Men must support their families financially, and women must manage household affairs as housewives, even if they have jobs. In the past only men received education in Korea, but nowadays men and women are educated equally. So women have become active members of society. They work hard in their jobs like men. Therefore, women are beginning to demand that the household affairs must be managed jointly. Although women are tired of their jobs, they must run a household. Because of this, many problems arise between husbands and wives, which has caused serious domestic troubles and social discord.
        In addition, the authority of the father is highly regarded as being of great importance in the home. This is influenced by the patriarchy of Confucianism, too. Patriarchy means that all members of a family obey their father's decisions. Others' opinions, except for the father's, are held in much less regard. In that case, as the children are not allowed to express their opinions, they can't develop the ability to think. Therefore they don't express their opinions in society even after they grow up. Of course, there are a few families being led by the mother when the family live without a father due to a divorce or his death. When the father can't support his family financially, the family may be led by the mother, too. But in most families, the father is still the center of the home.
        Finally, we can find an example of this conservatism in Korean attitudes toward divorced or remarried women. In the Yi Dynasty, a woman could marry only one man. If the man died young, the woman was required to remain faithful to her deceased husband. For this reason, even today, most people stare at divorced or remarried women with a displeased look. Because the young are accustomed to their parents' way of thinking, they have a disparaging view of them. Needless to say, older people also think this way.
        These qualities of Korean people suggest that they are still conservative although our society is becoming more and more open. Unfortunately, as the world is becoming a global village, it is impossible for us to live separated from other nations. We must live by trading with foreign countries. Because our nation's problems are the world's problems and the world's problems are our nation's problems, all people in the world must coexist to solve our problems and help each other. In this situation we need to understand the lives and thoughts of people in other countries. But it may be difficult for us to live insisting our thoughts and customs are better than those of other people due to our conservatism, because this is a social characteristic that separates us from others. Therefore Koreans must change their way of thinking to live in an open and international society.