Despite being an incredibly generous and hospitable people, due in large part to their strong Confucian tradition, the concept of a charity store, like Goodwill or St Vincent de Paul, was literally a foreign concept until a few years ago.

In Korean culture, it was traditionally seen as bad luck to re-use second hand goods as they may come laden with bad associations. It took an inspiring civic leader to challenge this cultural taboo and in doing so break new ground in creating organisations that could create social impact.

Original post at: http://tacsi.org.au/lessons-in-korea/