Changing Lifestyles : Korea’s Yuppies Focus on Values : They’re more family-oriented and less selfish than Americans, they say. But movies present a glitzier image.

After their wedding, Tae Kyu and Ji H a e move into a spacious apartment with wall-to-wall carpeting and chic, modern furniture. Tae Kyu, a radio producer, and Ji H a e, a radio actress, wear designer clothes and eat at upscale restaurants. They relieve their workday tensions by making love in the car, on the dining table or wherever else is handy.

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Welcome to the world of South Korean yuppies--as seen through the eyes of filmmakers, who have been quick to try to capitalize on this fast-growing segment of the population.

Tae Kyu and Ji Hae are characters in “Bridal Story,” the third-most-popular Korean movie since 1980. Another box-office hit, “Mister Mamma,” chronicles the comic adventures of a young executive struggling to bring up a baby on his own.

“Almost all the movies being made these days are about young urban professionals,” said Kim Eui Suk, director of “Bridal Story.”

Yuppies emerged here in the mid-1980s, a product of the economic dynamism transforming South Korea along with many other countries of the Asian Pacific region. People in their 20s and 30s make up the nation’s largest age group. And according to the National Statistics Office, the average income of urban workers aged 25 to 39 shot up 80% during the past 10 years.

The professionals interviewed for this article make $17,000 to $98,000 annually, moderate by American yuppie standards but high compared to the Korean per capita income of $6,300.

In Seoul’s fashionable Apkujongdong district, young women sip $4 coffees in ornately decorated, French-salon-style cafes. Business-suited professionals maneuver their shiny new cars through morning traffic. In the upscale Kangnam neighborhood, young mothers survey the latest styles in designer baby shops.

Korean yuppies see themselves as less self-absorbed than their counterparts elsewhere--many even challenge whether they qualify for the designation.

“I read an article about American yuppies--they don’t want to have children, drive very luxurious cars and don’t have a concept of saving. They enjoy life,” said Lee Sung Wook, 28, a litigator at Kim, Shin & Yu, a large Seoul law firm. “But in Korea, young professionals are more family-oriented. They are worried about future expenditures, such as housing or future education for their children.”

Kim, the director of “Bridal Story,” agrees.

“I’m not worried about the Korean yuppie class. It has been brought up during the democratization process in Korea, so they are acutely socially conscious. They might be very individualistic, but they are concerned about society. So, I think they may be more healthy than Western yuppies, who are egoistic.”

Whatever the case, it’s nevertheless clear that Korea’s yuppies are sending shudders through their country’s traditional value system.

Women are becoming more independent and career-minded, and men are reluctantly adjusting to the new power balance. When it comes to selecting a career, more young professionals are seeking personally fulfilling jobs rather than ones that merely pay the bills, and ones that leave them more leisure time.

Young doctors, noted Hong Doo Seung, director of the Population and Development Studies Center at Seoul National University, are more apt to go into specialized fields such as dermatology and radiology, which take up less of their time. And some aspirants to Foreign Ministry jobs are turning up their noses at assignments in Third World countries, Hong said.

The contrast--and occasional conflict--between old values and new comes through in films.

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Ji H a e and Tae Kyu work in different departments of IBS Broadcasting Co. One day, a senior executive catches them cozying up to each other in the hall. Tae Kyu looks stricken and bows respectfully, but the supervisor just shoots him a skeptical look.

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Lee Choo Hak, 27, a manager at Citibank, thought “Bridal Story” was a “fun” movie, but he found the main characters a little too free-spirited.

“The way they slapped each other’s bottoms. . . . I don’t think that reflects Korean young people. They’re more serious. They think a lot about real things, how to make ends meet, how to pay for housing, what they’re going to do for their kids.”

With his navy suit, small-print navy tie and tortoise-shell glasses, Lee looks rather serious himself. When he’s talking about work, however, a glint forms in his eye. Citibank’s mergers and acquisitions business did three times as well last year as expected, he boasts.

The single banker, whose salary is in the “low 30s,” usually works from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. He drives a mid-range Hyundai Sonata equipped with an expensive-looking tape deck but sometimes commutes by bus or subway.

For entertainment, Lee and his young friends may head to trendy Apkujongdong or Pangbaedong for a robatayaki --a Japanese barbecue. “You drink lemon soju or sake, eat sashimi or sushi and talk loudly until you get drunk,” Lee said.

If he is taking out his girlfriend, Lee might choose a quiet, Italian restaurant such as La Cucina, on Mt. Nam, whose skyline view and candle-lit tables set a more romantic tone. Depending on where they go, Lee says he spends from $13 to $100 on dinner for two.

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Ji H a e has just landed an important part on a radio show, and she’s giddy with excitement. When she sees Tae Kyu in the hall, she demands, “Give me a kiss.” Smiling mischievously, she drags him into the stairwell, where they engage in passionate necking.

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Some Korean men like women who take charge, observes Kim Wan Jin, 27, a loan officer at National Australia Bank. The men she has dated liked her independent ways, she says.

Kim enjoyed “Bridal Story,” even though she complains demurely that it had too many sex scenes. Still, she acknowledges, young women’s attitudes toward sex are becoming more liberal. “Many women--although not all--are not shy or embarrassed,” she said.

Young Korean women are also putting greater emphasis on their careers these days, Kim said.

“Nowadays many women want to work. Self-realization is important to them. If they meet someone they love, they get married, but marriage is not the goal of their life,” she said.

“I want to get married, but I must meet the right person. Until I find the right person, I will wait,” she added.

Like most single yuppies in Korea, Kim will live with her parents until she gets married. She goes out to eat once a week, with friends or office mates. They often go to Apkujongdong but steer away from expensive restaurants. Kim has a fondness for imported and designer clothing, selecting suits that cost more than $400 apiece. One of her “special occasion outfits” cost $760.

Shim Hea Jin, who played Ji Hae in “Bridal Story,” praises yuppies’ different ways.

“I think it will be a good thing if these people increase in number,” she said. “They have a positive view of life. They don’t just think about their children’s education. They do what they want to do, fulfilling their self-potential.”