More Cultural Observations (from an engineer's perspective)

Americans (and about 2/3 of the nations on Earth) drive on the right. The British (and about 1/3 of the nations on Earth) drive on the left. For the most part, and especially where it is marked, American walk on the right and the Brits walk on the left. I would think it would follow that when moving in two directions along the same path, whether that path is a roadway or a sidewalk, you always follow the same rule, be it keep left or keep right.

But no. Koreans (for the most part) drive on the left, but they walk on the right. There are arrows on crosswalks, on stairs in the subway and on escalators and people-movers. Even stranger, on the escalators and people-movers you stand to the right, walk to the left. That's the standard in LHW countries. I can't remember if it's the same in RHW countries, but the paradigm for driving is that (in both LHD and RHD countries) traffic speed increases as you approach the middle of the roadway. This is flipped in Korea for walking. Foot-traffic is slowest in the center and fastest on the outer edges. If you think about it, this system makes more sense…especially for driving. Thinking about it now, though, creating a highway with high speed traffic on the outside would be more costly as interchanges would need to accommodate exits in the center of the roadway or create the situation of merging into high speed traffic.

I still think it's weird they don't walk on the same side they drive.