I was so surprised when I said to a girl in one of my classes "ask your friends" and the entire class responded by saying "nooooo, not friend, little sister". Turns out they weren't all related, she was a year younger than the rest of the class.
Koreans think age is really important. Only people born in the same year as you are considered to be your friends. So even though Stacey and Jenny, my two best friends, are in the same school year as me in England, I couldn't call them my friends because they were born in 87' and I was born in 88'.
They take it so seriously that they have different names for the people older than you, as a sign of respect. I couldn't call Stacey by her name, I would have to call her 'onnee' which translates roughly as 'older sister'. When this was explained to me I assumed it was a formality that was dropped once you know a person well, but no. Even if you're friends with someone for 40 years, see them everyday, you still can't called them by their name. You have use the formal 'older sister', 'older brother'.
To make it even more complicated, the words are different depending on what sex you are:
A girl speaking to an older female would call her 'onnee'.
A girl speaking to an older male would call him 'opa'.
A man speaking to an older female would call her 'nuna'.
And a man speaking to an older male would call him 'hyong'.
It's considered very important and is part of Korean politeness.
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