Should I bow or shake hands when I meet a Korean?
Bow first. A small bow with 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo, hello) is the safe default with anyone you meet in Korea. If the other person then offers a hand, shake it, keeping a slight bow while you do. Follow that order and you will rarely go wrong.
Bowing is the traditional Korean greeting, and it deepens with the relationship. With friends and people your age, a quick nod is enough. With someone older, a teacher, a client or your partner's parents, bend a little more from the waist, hands at your sides or folded in front, and don't rush it. Nobody expects a visitor to fold into a 90-degree bow; a sincere, unhurried one says more. On a first meeting you can add 처음 뵙겠습니다 (cheoeum boepgetseumnida, a polite “nice to meet you”), and you bow again when you say goodbye.
Handshakes came later. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture notes that the Western handshake took hold after Christian missionaries arrived in the early 20th century, first among men in the cities, then across the country after liberation from Japanese rule in 1945. Today men and women of all ages shake hands, especially at work, but with a Korean twist. The older or more senior person usually offers the hand first, so wait rather than reach out to someone clearly senior to you. Korean etiquette guides suggest bending about 10 to 15 degrees when shaking an elder's or a boss's hand, and many people support their right forearm with the left hand. It is the same “two hands show respect” idea behind pouring for elders, which we unpack in our story on drinking etiquette. Keep the grip gentle, not crushing.
What you won't usually see at a first meeting is a hug or a kiss on the cheek; those are kept for people you are close to. Generation matters, too: among Koreans in their twenties, a nod, a smile or a little wave is perfectly normal, while older people tend to expect more formality.
If you mix it up, relax. Koreans notice the effort far more than the angle of your back. And if an older Korean follows the bow by asking whether you have eaten, that is a greeting as well, as we explain in our story on “Have you eaten?”
