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Why You Should Never Write Names in Red When Dealing with Koreans Part 2
By Heejeong Haas | August 3, 2007
Let’s talk more about red and its historical value in Korean society. There was once a syndrome spread throughout the nation. And that is called “red complex”. The red complex has been eased quite a lot, however generations who went through the Korean War still don’t view the color red kindly.
Korea underwent one of the bloodiest wars in history—the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. What the people who were chased by communists saw at that time was the red color being used by the communists and blood everywhere. They started associating the color red with communists. Furthermore, after the war, when the country adopted an anti-communist national policy, the color used to describe communists was red. They would appear in text books or anti-communist educational material in color red with all sorts of horrifying figures illustrating communists. All this created the feeling of fear and deep disapproval toward the color red.
As more and more of the post-war generation grew up and started becoming the main stream of the society, this red complex started dying out gradually as well. One can easily see that the red complex is almost gone by now. In the World Cup 2002, the name of the cheer team for the Korean soccer team was the “Red Devils”. They wore red shirts as the Korean soccer team wore red colored uniform. Furthermore, some experts say that the Red Devils actually played a big role in further easing up the leftover red complex.
There is a personal story of mine related to this red complex.
It was in early 1980’s. I was still a very young girl, and my youngest uncle who was living with us was in his early 20’s. One day, he was very busy preparing for his company picnic. At the very last moment, he asked me if everybody was out of the room and to keep my eyes open if anybody would come into the room. I complied as he was my favorite uncle who used to play the guitar for me to sing. He quickly ran to a drawer and took out the red shirt and put it on and stood in front of the mirror appreciating the view of himself. I was too busy admiring the view of his powerful red shirt as well. While I was busy looking at him, my grandmother came into the room, and she started scolding him as if he was a little child. She said, “I did not raise you to become one of those reds. Your father fought against them. Your oldest brother (which is my father) had to walk with me miles and miles running away from them. You don’t know anything about it because you were not even born! How ungrateful this is! You like red? Why don’t I give you one of those armbands of theirs so that you can wear it around your arm and march like them too!”
Of course, bless her soul, my grandmother went through the war with 4 kids barely walking miles and miles to escape from the North Korean soldiers’ ever-watchful eyes since my grandfather was a police chief in South Korea and now fighting in the war against them. No families wanted to take them in to sleep at night; no families wanted them to be in the same place as that might harm their life greatly. So, she had the horrifying experience, and she never changed her view about the color red or communists until the day she passed away. Even my father once said that, more than the communists, the color red always reminds him of all the blood he witnessed during the war as an 8 year old boy.
The red complex is almost gone. However our business partners can be in their 60’s or 70’s. That means this red complex lived throughout their lives at one point.
I have seen one Korean executive member in his 60’s complained about the red carpet in the hotel hallway whereas his subordinate cheerfully said he felt like he was in a red carpet moment. I painted my bedroom red, and my father never understood the intention of it when he visited me whereas my brother thought it was very bold and cool. I posted my headshot picture with the red wall background, my father literally asked me to change the picture since he couldn’t stand looking at his daughter’s face on the messenger with the red background. When I changed it, my friends then complained telling me that they liked that picture a lot better than my current one.
I think this has been an enough story about red. Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you did!
Heejeong Haas
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Topics: Communication, Korean Business Etiquette, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
One interesting thing that I happened to notice as “red” pertained to children was that if they had an “English name” they didn’t seem to react if I tried to write their names in red.
But once I started writing their Korean names, it was a whole other matter.
I agree with you. Avoid red in names. If a company name is in red on a white background, it would be worth it to put the lettering in white on a red background. It’s that important.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
[...] Of course, younger generations don’t have the same complex about the color. As blogger Heejeong Haas points out, at the 2002 World Cup the Korean soccer team wore red, as did their cheer team. [...]