CORRECTION: Half-empty bars reveal signs of waning heavy nightlife drinking culture among South Koreans

Record ID: 1885349

  • Title: CORRECTION: Half-empty bars reveal signs of waning heavy nightlife drinking culture among South Koreans
  • Date: 11th December 2024
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERED AND DRINKING ALCOHOL WOMAN POURING A GLASS OF LOW-ALCOHOL SOJU FOR OTHERS WOMAN DRINKING WOMAN'S HANDS HOLDING A GLASS WOMEN TOASTING SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (FILE - APRIL 8, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AND DRINKING BEER AT CRAFT BEER PUB "DEVIL'S DOOR" SERVER POURING CRAFT BEER INTO GLASS THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEER PLACED ON LIGHTED SERVING TRAY SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES DISPLAYED AT A STORE VARIOUS OF LOW-ALCOHOL FRUITY SOJU PRODUCTS DISPLAYED IN BOX COUPLE LOOKING AT LOW-ALCOHOL FRUITY SOJU PRODUCTS WOMAN'S HANDS HOLDING PEACH-FLAVOURED SOJU PRODUCT WOMAN LOOKING AT SOJU PRODUCTS ON SHELVES
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2024 01:18
  • Keywords: South Korea alcohol business culture drinking economy nightlife trend
  • Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • City: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA004397202122024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: For pub owner Jun Jung-sook, Seoul's once-vibrant Nokdu Street is not what it used to be when people queued for a table to end their day with Korean mung bean pancakes and shots of the fiery local rice wine makgeolli.
    The more common sight now is of half-empty pubs and bars along the neon-lit alley and streets, a telling sign of a sharp shift in South Korea's once-notorious drinking culture.
    That change has been driven by corporate Korea slowing down on hoesik, or after-work drinking bouts, the emergence of an emboldened class of younger female workers who are refusing to be part of these drunken sessions and a general reluctance of consumers to open their wallets due to higher interest rates and lingering inflation.
    In the years following a 2007 ruling by the Seoul High Court that deemed it an offence to force subordinates to drink alcohol, an increasing number of women have started to complain about hoesik as it takes time away from childcare and due to the risk of sexual harassment.
    An index measuring sales at local eateries was at a record low of 88.4 last year, according to latest available figures, while the number of Noraebangs, or singing rooms, decreased to 25,990 as of July this year from 28,758 in 2020, a trade association said.
    The consumption downturn has dealt a major blow to popular second-round places like Jun's and reflects a broader slowdown in domestic demand in Asia's fourth-largest economy which barely grew in the third quarter. It also underlines the challenges facing South Korean businesses from Noraebangs, to retail rents and mom-and-pop pubs.
    "I don't see anyone drunk anymore. The streets here used to be packed...that's long gone," said Jun, 77, glancing over an empty hallway that once bustled with people playing drinking games such as one on APT, the latest K-pop hit by ROSE.
    For Jun, slower consumption amid the changing drinking culture means letting go of her bindaeddeok place she has been running since 1993. Her place has been put up for lease since 2022 but she hasn't received a single offer.
    "Some people used to pay for other tables just because they went to the same university, even if they are total strangers. That culture is gone, it's all go-Dutch now," Jun said, as the evening news on TV hummed in the background with North Korea's latest missile launch.
    (Production: Jisoo Kim, Heejung Jung, Timothy Sim)
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