Korean foods have cold and hot tastes. Of course, this is not just about the temperature of the food. The cold and hot tastes of Korean food have various and special meanings hidden inside, particularly for the health of the eater. This article is about the cold and hot tastes of Korean foods.

Reference:   <Humanities in Korean Food>(Kwon Daeyoung, Health Letter)
Analysis of the Changes in the 13th-Century Goryeo Tang (Soup) Food Culture: Focusing on the Food Cultures of Gaeseong, Andong, and Tamna (Jongsu Lee, Research Professor, Graduate School of Public Administration, Chung-Ang University, Research on Traditional Korean Culture No. 16)
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture

Cool Taste of Cold Foods versus Cool Taste of Hot Foods
Korean foods have a “cool taste.” It is natural to feel cool when you eat cold food, but it is odd to feel cool even after eating boiling hot food. Kwon Daeyoung, the author of <Korean Food Humanities>, defined the coolness that one feels when eating cold foods as “the soup is cold and refreshing” in his book. 
Kwon, however, explained in his book that “The cool taste is not just an expression of taste; it is connected to the dimension of survival and health. Rather, it is an expression related to the dimension of our body becoming healthy by eating deliciously and feeling refreshed, and when our gastrointestinal movement is active and our digestion and absorption are good.”
He also pointed out that when translating “coolness,” which represents the taste of Korea, siwonhada (cool) in Korean, rather than “cool,” is a more correct expression. 

Cold Winter Foods versus Hot Summer Foods
It is common sense to eat cold food in summer to cool off the heat. In the Joseon Dynasty, the royal court gave beef and ice to the court officials to beat the heat.
However, in the foods or nourishing dishes eaten in summer in Korea, the taste of yiyeol chiyeol (以熱治熱: fighting the heat with heat) is stronger. The representative Sambok Jeolsik (the solar term food for midsummer days) or seasonal nourishing foods to beat the heat are gyesamtang (ginseng chicken soup), gaejangguk (dog meat soup), yukgaejang (spicy beef soup), and patjuk (red bean porridge).
In Dongguksesigi, kalguksu (noodle soup) made with zucchini in chicken broth, sujebi (hand-pulled dough soup) boiled with seaweed in chicken broth, and miljeonbyeong (wheat crepe) with thinly sliced zucchini fried in oil were introduced as summer foods. In addition to replenishing the energy lost through sweating a lot in the heat, eating food while sweating profusely regulates the body temperature to restore the eater’s vitality and replenish nutrients.
It is common sense to eat warm food in winter and to warm the body that is freezing. Hot pot, yeolgujatang (sinseollo: royal hot pot), seolleongtang (ox bone soup), etc., are the seasonal foods that prevent cold.
However, the taste of yinaeng chinaeng (以冷治冷: fighting cold with cold) cannot be excluded from the foods eaten in Korea in winter or from nourishing foods. Naengmyeon (cold noodles) eaten in winter is a winter specialty. Naengmyeon is a cold noodle dish made by rolling buckwheat noodles in broth or dongchimi water. It was the winter seasonal food of Hamggyeong and Pyeongan provinces. 
It seems natural that cold noodles became a winter seasonal food as they were eaten in the ondol (Korean floor heating system) environment, where the floor was hot and the air above was dry.
 

Cold Recipes versus Hot Recipes
Cold foods and hot foods have different names. Like naengmyeon (cold noodles) and onmyeon (warm noodles), we can immediately see whether the dish is cold or hot just by looking at the name. 
When it comes to hot foods, there are stewed, braised, stir-fried, fried, pan-fried, skewered, grilled, boiled, sauteed, boiled-down, porridged, and gruelled dishes; and for cold foods, there are raw, pickled, sliced-raw, boiled, and cooled-down, salads; jellied dishes; fish jerky; jerky; seasoned dishes; cold noodles; and chilled and dressed dishes. 
The cooking terms are also different. The recipes that use heat include these terms: stir-fry, press, deep-fry, griddle, sauté, boil, steam, cook, blanch, soak, boil down, thicken, steep, steam, stew, smoke, sit, etc. The recipes that do not require heating include these terms: season, mix with sauce, mix, hand-rub, mold, roll, skewer, salt, ferment, make (kimchi and pickled vegetables), rest, etc. 
Of course, sometimes, skewered food is fried and blanched food is seasoned, so the cooking temperature does not always lead to the food temperature.  

Cold Property versus Warm Property
Asian melons in season help to cool off the summer heat and keep you healthy. However, you should be careful not to eat a lot of Asian melons at once. This is because Asian melon has a cold property so it can cause stomach problems when consumed in large amounts. Eating Asian melons after eating pork should also be avoided because it may cause diarrhea, as the pork has a cold property. This shows that each food has its own temperature; thus, foods are largely divided into those with a cold property and those with a warm property. Sometimes, the food ingredients with a medial property are classified separately. According to the instructions for constitution-type medicines, foods must first be classified according to their food property and consumed accordingly. For instance, foods with a cold property are suitable for taeyangin people who have a hot stomach, and hot food ingredients are suitable for soeumin people who have a cold stomach.  

Raw versus Cooked
Some ingredients are better eaten cooked with heat, while others are better eaten raw. When we eat apples, cabbage, sesame leaves, seaweed, onions, and red bell peppers raw, we can absorb their nutrients fully, but there are other food ingredients such as ginseng, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, vegetable greens, and tangerines whose nutrients that are good for the body are increased 2 to 3 times and are easily absorbed by the body when heated. Of course, there are food ingredients that become more nutritious after drying, such as golden oak mushrooms, radish greens (siraegi), pumpkin, dried persimmon, gwamegi (semi-dried herring or billfish), and gulbi (dried yellow corvina).