Korea's greeting culture

I've been long interested in how different countries came up with their own norms. In respect of greeting manner, the Japanese, across the Asian regions, is well-known to behave most politely to others however they are unfamiliar with. In some other Asian countries, people's greeting even adheres to particular codes of conduct.

In the Korean language, the formal and the informal forms of speech are strictly differentiated. When you meet someone for the first time you're most likely to be asked for your age (unless the age difference is obvious). You use the formal form of speech when you talk to someone who is older than you, whose position/status is higher than yours, and who is about the same age as, or younger than, you except for a stranger. Of course, the informal form of speech is for the opposite case. It is extremely rude if you do not follow their examples.