Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Benicio]

Anyone who's spent long enough in Korea has encountered a situation where a local downs some booze, does something completely offensive, then later apologizes with the "forgive me, I was drunk". Many here believe that this is a solid excuse for bad behavior. Note- foreigners are never allowed to use this excuse.

Well, remember a few months ago when the GNP politician got hammered on boilermakers at a party with members of the press. The dude groped a female journalist. Great move, pal. Anyway, the dude blamed the booze and acted like he shouldn't be held accountable.

This latest part of the story, lifted from my friend's blog, is crazy ridiculous. Must read: http://parkatcircle.com/wp/?p=33


This is one of the dumbest things I�ve seen in awhile.

A legislator, Yeon-hee Choi was recently indicted on a sexual harrassment charge and is employing the old, �I was too drunk to remember� excuse. According to his lawyer,

The 10th article of the criminal law reads �Punishment is reduced for those who don�t have the ability to make judgments and to make decisions.�

I�m obviously not a lawyer, because I don�t think Article 10 was intended to excuse the bad behavior of drunks.

Anyway, to prove his case, Choi

offered to submit to a physical examination, including a DNA test, to prove to the court that he was too drunk to remember sexually harassing a female reporter.

Um, sorry, but a DNA test won�t help you there, sport. Don�t you watch CSI?

Fortunately, someone at Seoul Central District Court is sane and turned down the offer.

My wife told me that his first excuse, which nobody bought was, �I thought the reporter was the owner of the restaurant�.

I just have to ask, should a man who �downs eight to nine shots of whiskey and seven to eight boilermakers� at a Party meeting with reporters in attendance even have a job?

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Does this mean that idiots who get smashed and then run over pedestrians with a vehicle can't be held accountable?

Awesome, I'm buying a car.

[RACETRAITOR]

A girl my wife sort of knows was recently attacked. She was in a women's washroom, locked away in the stall. A guy came in, knocked her friend down, kicked open the stall door and started beating her to death. He didn't know either of them.

Later he claimed he was drunk and couldn't control himself, let alone remember. Both girls were sure he was sober. He didn't do any jail time, partly because he didn't break any bones. Instead he was charged with the equivalent of minor vandalism.

[Benicio]

Not surprised Racetraitor. Guys have been getting away with sh*t like that forever here.

It sounds like there might be a little bit more to the story, though.
All the girl had to do was get a doctor to say she was really injured(very easy to do here) and then he has to pay a wad of money.

[The Bobster]

[elynnor]

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[ajgeddes]

[elynnor]

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[ajgeddes]

I don't think anyone is trying to deny that people from many cultures use the excuse. I think what he is arguing is the acceptance of it.

Usually at home, if somebody tries using the 'I was drunk' excuse, the response they get is 'so what'.

[Benicio]

Sorry elynnor, but that was very weak.
I'm not drunk right now- only on my first beer.

Anyway, I was saying that many Koreans believe that being loaded is a "get out of jail free card" for bad behavior that automatically warrants forgiveness.
I had a Korean ex who would say "I was drunk. That wasn't really me". She had trouble grasping the fact that alcohol removes the "id" and people say and do what they really think and want. It shows their true self.
Now, someone may regret saying or doing something while drunk, but they did it because they really wanted to and the normal self-control function was removed.

[steroidmaximus]

I don't necessarily buy that stuff about how being drunk really exposes our 'true' selves. Guess I have a more complicated notion of what being human is really about. Everybody thinks nasty shit, but we discard it as unworthy of indulgence. When you're drunk, that shit seems really funny or pertinent, so we say it or act on it instead of just chucking it away.

At the same time, you'd have to be REALLY drunk to actually be excused about some bad behaviour. BUT I do think this can be an excuse IF you're really drunk. Those of you who have woken up the next morning and regret or honestly can't remember what they did can relate. By saying that no, you can't be excused, ignores the fact that society must be responsible for activities it condones.

But then again, if you're really drunk, you'd probably be too uncoordinated or sloppy to do anything seriously reprehensible.

[Benicio]

[steroidmaximus]

[joyfulgirl]

i've used this excuse if i've let the odd secret slip, or had an irrational drunk argument with someone. i don't think it really works once you physically hurt someone. geez.

[Hapkido-In]

I feel that you should be held responsible for your actions when you are drunk. It's all about responsibility. You know if you are going to get drunk. It's not something that just suddenly happens. You have to put time and effort into it (some less than others). If you're a jackass that likes to grab women's breasts when you're drunk, then you'd best not go out and get drunk.

The arguement that being drunk gives you an excuse for your actions should not be acceptable on any level.

That's just me, though.

However, let's keep in mind here that we are comparing Korean standards to Western standards. Korea has come a long way in a short amount of time, we look around and expect that Korea should be the same as our 'home lands'. Well, it's not...there's a few things they haven't gotten around to yet because they were too busy with other things. I've talked to many Koreans that don't really like the 'drinking culture' found in Korea and I wouldn't be surpised to see this 'excuse' become invalid in the near future.