Korean Job Discussion Forums

[asmith]

Is it me or Korea.

Never drank that much before I came here.

Now I average two bottles of Jinro Original a night.

And I'm not complaining. If two bottles are wrong, I don't want to be right.

[mike in brasil]

I think it's a few things.

It seems there is no demonization of alcohol in Korea, whereas back home there is a lot of it. Blame the Puritans~ Here it's perfectly acceptable to get blind drunk and then find a nice comfy place on the gound to sleep it off.

Couple that with the fact that soju is easy to drink and it's cheap. Other distilled alcohols just doesn't go down so smoothly. And beer, well, after a couple of them I just ain't that thirsty.

Soju, as one student put it, is a blessing and a curse.

[UknowsI]

I'm pushed to drink more in Korea than I did at home, but I drank voluntarily much more at home than I do here. I guess it depends on your friends. But the Koreans I hang out with don't really drink that much. When they go out drinking they go out at 11 o'clock and push each other to drink soju or somek. Since people only drink when they are asked to drink I soon started doing the same, and in the end I'm just slightly tipsy when the clock hit 4 or so and we head home.

Back in my home country we would usually start drinking at 6 o'clock. We would also drink beer which tasted good and drink and shots that also tasted good. Since we would do this for 9 hours or so the total amount would be far more than anything I've drunk in Korea. However, we only did this once or sometimes twice a week, so if I were to go out every day here in Korea I would still end up drinking more. But we only drink every second week or even more seldom, so for me I'm almost drying up here.

[redaxe]

It's Korea. Alcohol is cheaper and more socially acceptable here, and there are less "alternative" activities at night time. It's almost unacceptable not to drink.

I once declined to drink at a company dinner because I was feeling ill, so my male coworkers made me sit at the end of the table with the women. "If you don't wanna drink, well, you can just sit with the ladies, then." Fine by me.

[tiger fancini]

[bobbyhanlon]

if you drink with others, you can blame korean culture. if you drink alone, its your own fault!

[The Gipkik]

LOL, now this is all making perfect sense: your bottles of soju and Daves are a marriage made in heaven!

[Ilsanman]

Pretty much this society supports and even lauds rampant alcoholism.

The gov't has recognized it and is trying to promote non-alcoholic lifestyle. But the people aren't listening.

Anyone who drinks soju doesn't like themselves very much.

[The Gipkik]

[benji1422]

[The Gipkik]

[asmith]

[Shiktang]

There is a big problem with what's called bing drinking here. Called porktangju or something. Happens a lot with students. Not so long ago a female student collapsed and died in one of these episodes.

[djsmnc]

Drinking at the office with staff back home would be an ethical dilemma with serious repurcussions that is frowned upon in training videos during orientation whereas some fried chicken and a former Coke bottle full of beer delivered by a man racing on a scooter without a helmet is par for the course here. In fact, I wouldn't trade it for almost anything back home!

[PigeonFart]

'France24' did a brief report on Korean drinking culture...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0mp9VXd4wQ

(report is in English)