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Doors Open Opportunities for foreign business executives in South Korea expanded greatly in 1991 when the government finally began removing some of the barriers and restrictions that had severely limited the activities of foreign companies in Korea and kept most foreign imports out. For the first time, foreign banks were given permission to enter domestic retail banking and to have branches. Foreign manufacturers and retailers were given permission to open their own stores. In January 1992 new regulations made it possible for foreigners to buy shares of Korean companiesanother first.

But this image of scientific industrialism is, for the most part, only on the surface. Thousands of Koreans have been ostensibly de-Koreanized by years of exposure to and involvement with Westerners, particularly Americans. Thousands more have been educated abroad and are now either bicultural or at least bilingual and able to function in both a Korean and American environment. But generally speaking they remain identifiably Korean in their basic attitudes and in their behavior. The family is still of vital importance.

But generally speaking they remain identifiably Korean in their basic attitudes and in their behavior. The family is still of vital importance. There is still respect for authority, the aged, and the learned. All of the "isms" delineated by Dr. Kyong-Dong Kim are alive and well. It is impossible for a Korean or Westerner to function effectively and efficiently in Korea without following the "Korean way" in many areas of life and work. Dr. Kim says bluntly that Koreans are still emotional, relatively crude, superstitious, and aggressivebut not lazyand that Korean society is still organized on an intricate network of personal connections; that it is still an authoritarian hierarchy; that people still resort to ritualistic face-saving facades, and emphasize class and rank.