Similarities between Korea and Greece

For quite some time now, I wanted to state some similarities between Korea and my own country, Greece..

So, let's see what these two countries have in common.

Both countries are surrounded by water and are part of a peninsula (yes, I know that I am stating the obvious here..). Korea is located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula and Greece is located on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula.

Korea as well as Greece are known worldwide for their beautiful islands. To my knowledge Korea's most famous islands are Jeju and Dokdo. As for Greece, some of the most famous islands are Santorini and Mykonos. Let's see some photos, shall we?

Dokdo, Korea

Jeju, Korea

Santorini, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

We have unique alphabets and writing system. The Greek alphabet was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet and is being used since at least 730 BC. The Korean alphabet was invented in 1443 during the reign of The Great King Sejong.

The word for "YES" is the same. Well ok.. due to our unique alphabets -as stated above- we obviously write it in different ways but the pronunciation is the same. So, in Korean we have "네" and in Greek we have "ναι", both romanized as "ne".

Both countries have long history and have actually encountered civil wars. Actually Greece fought alongside Korea during the Korean war. Therefore we are both patriotic.

Greeks were once among the pioneers of shipbuilding. Korea is now famous for its shipyards and Greeks were some of the first who showed their trust on the Korean shipyards and ordered ships.

Although Greece doesn't have a lot of spicy foods, such as the Korean cuisine, we both share one thing: WE LOVE OUR FOOD!! Oh and I think Koreans like coffee as much as Greeks do, right? While I was vacationing in Korea this summer, all the coffee shops were packed with people, just as it happens here!

We know how to have fun and party all night!

I think that's about everything that comes into mind at the moment. Feel free to add more similarities, if you know any, or compare the similarities between Korea and your country!

* This post is written by Angeliki Katsika, one of the Korea Blog's Worldwide Korea Bloggers.