Many of my fellow "Native" English Teachers who had never been to Korea before, but were familiar with chopsticks, were surprised when I told them to eat their rice with their spoon. They were trying to fit in by eating with their chopsticks, but didn't realize that they woud fit in just as well if they ate their rice with their spoon.
I, personally, always think Koreans are pretty clever with their metal chopstick/spoon combo. First, I like that it's metal, which is far more sanitary than wood, more substantial than plastic, and also does it's own little part in saving the environment. Second, I like the fact that you have options; if it is too hard to eat your rice with the chopsticks, go for it with the spoon... if you are a picky eater like I am, go ahead and pick the onions out of the soup with the chopsticks. Finally, I like that you have the option of using both hands to eat, even though older customs dictate against it; that means I can divide that big piece of Kase (that's Tonkatsu, for those who don't know), by splitting it with my chopsticks and spoon.
If you ever wondered where the whole chopstick/spoon thing came from, here's a link:
http://www.buddhapia.com/eng/extensive/4-a5a1.html
I thought it was interesting and seemed correct.
(I took that lovely picture from this website, which also has an interesting, but gramatically poor, article about chopsticks and spoons in Korea, Japan, and China:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.prkorea.com/engnews/wys/file_attach/1184303793spoon%26chopsticks.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.prkorea.com/engnews/index.cgi%3Faction%3Ddetail%26number%3D518%26thread%3D10r01&usg=__vkw2SQ7PUmhpsA5CRW3f3VF4_2U=&h=800&w=600&sz=90&hl=en&start=5&sig2=sZqlt-rR_iGayhHwpMlnPQ&um=1&tbnid=JPlKCxlYFoRgLM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3DKorean%2Bchopsticks%2Band%2Bspoon%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DVXA_en%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=pDxMS7NvhKa2A_na6IoB .)
