Ahn, Jeong Khn 2012, why do Koreans explain a lot when making an apology? The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal, 20(3), 1-15. This study examined why Koreans used explanations a lot when making an apology. In order to find out the major reasons of such a peculiar speech act of Koreans in apology, 175 respondents participated in this study and each was given a questionnaire to fill out their preference of apology options and their reasons for selecting such options. Most of the respondents took apology options with explanations as their preference and the foremost reason they used explanations when making an apology was to make themselves understood to the others in order to avoid misunderstanding, Women were more likely to make themselves understood to the others than men, whereas men thought that giving an explanation when apologizing was more polite and the right thing to do than women, The youngest group of people were most sensitive to have themselves understood to the others when making an apology.