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Korean Business Etiquette: Drinking in Business
Situations |
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| Do you drink? If you do, that is certainly a
plus for your Korea business because building relationships is
important for doing business in Korea and drinking together is an
important way for people in a Korean company, particularly Korean
men, to build and maintain relationships. |
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Heavy
drinking is not uncommon and, as with public drunkenness, not
frowned upon in Korea. Even if you don’t drink, you will still
likely be asked why not and asked repeatedly by Koreans to
have a drink even though you have told them you don't drink.
Don't take offense at this; Koreans see drinking as a way to
get close to people and are just expressing their desire to
share a drink in business. If you are determined not to
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| drink, just decline
calmly and politely each time your host asks. |
| When drinking together in business, a Korean
should never pour a drink from a bottle into his own glass and never
allow another person in the group to pour his own drink. When
someone else in the group has finished or almost finished his drink,
one of the people in the group should top up his glass for him. If
he has started pouring his own drink, he should be stopped and have
it poured for him. You don't need to pour drinks for everyone in the
group at all times, as other people will do it also, but try to keep
an eye on the levels in people's glasses. This will show that you
understand Korean business etiquette. |
| Here’s another important tip for
effective business etiquette in Korea. When giving something
to a person of similar or more senior level, you should always
use two hands and this applies to pouring drinks also. Place
two hands on the bottle or one hand on the bottle and one on
your wrist. Koreans will generally not be offended when you
don't follow their business customs but will be impressed when
you do. They may explain Korean |
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| drinking or other
business etiquette to you. They are not criticizing you; they just
want to share the Korean business culture with you, so don't take
offense. |
| It is uncommon for Koreans to drink
without eating. Establishments that primarily sell alcohol also sell
what is called "ahn-joo", which means "food to accompany alcohol".
The group will usually order several different "ahn-joo" and share
them, possibly ordering a number of times during the drinking
session. "Ahn-joo" is like party food and is sold at somewhat but
not highly inflated prices. "Ahn-joo" consists of things like shrimp
crackers, fruit salad, chicken salad, noodle dishes and dried
squid. |
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