Binge drinking 1
As the year is coming to a close, many Korean people get together with their friends to forget about the past year and greet the coming year. Psy’s music video, hangover shows us a common cultural gathering in Korea. People drink a mix of soju and beer to make the booze stronger and keep drinking a large number of glasses during a very short time. This is deemed as a required cultural activity, to bond with each other and share frank conversation while getting drunk. It is good to have alcohol to make the atmosphere jollier and merrier if and when people drink appropriate amounts of alcohol. But many of the gatherings turn into binge drinking which can lead to a lot of serious problems. Harmful drinking is associated with numerous social consequences, such as crime, violence, unemployment, and absenteeism. There are also many alcohol related accidents such as violence, sexual harassment, and drunk-driving. And harmful drinking is a major avoidable risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders and other non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis of the liver and various cancers. Considering these harmful effects, I believe that the government should enforce rules and regulations more proactively and amend the related law.
Korea is the 13th highest in terms of alcohol consumption and it ranks the highest for the consumption of strong alcohol. In spite of this high consumption of alcohol, policy and regulations regarding alcohol are very lax. Among OECD countries, Korea ranked 22nd among 30 countries in terms of alcohol regulations. According to the World Health Organization, the alcoholic population of Korea is 6.76% and this figure is 1.8 times higher than the world average of 3.6%. The socio economic cost related to alcohol is 7.3 trillion per year according to Health and Society Research Institute. The economic burden of alcohol consumption is from 0.45% to 5.44% of GDP. Korea’s culture of entertaining clients with alcohol is also widely known around the world and this unprofessional image has had a negative impact on Korea’s business relations with foreign clients. Also, many problems such as bribery and requests for special consideration for a job position happen during these drinking sessions.
Binge drinking 1
As the year's end is nearing, many Korean people get together with their friends to forget about the past year and greet the coming year. Psy’s music video, 'Hangover', shows us a common culture of gathering in Korea. People drink a mix of soju and beer to make the booze strong, and keep drinking more glasses over a very short time. This is deemed a 'must-do' cultural activity to bond with each other over frank conversation while they increasingly become drunk. It is good to have alcohol to make the atmosphere jollier and merrier if people drink an appropriate amount. Many of the gatherings are, however, turned into binge drinking and this can lead to some more serious problems. Harmful drinking is associated with numerous social consequences such as crime, violence, unemployment and absenteeism. There are many accidents related with alcohol such as violence, sexual harassment and drunk-driving incidents. Harmful drinking is a majorly avoidable risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders and other non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular, cirrhosis of the liver and various cancers. Considering these harmful effects, I believe that government should enforce policies and regulations more proactively and amend the related law.
Korea is the 13th highest in terms of alcohol consumption and it ranks the highest for consumption of strong alcohol. In spite of this high consumption of alcohol, policy and regulation regarding alcohol is very loose. Among OECD countries, Korea ranked 22nd among 30 countries in terms of regulation on alcohol. According to the World Health Organization, the alcoholic population of Korea is 6.76% and this figure is 1.8 times higher than the world average, 3.6%. The socio economic cost related with alcohol is 7.3 trillion won per year according to Health and Society Research Institute. Economic burden of alcohol consumption is from 0.45% to 5.44% of GDP. Korea’s culture of entertaining clients with alcohol is widely known to the world and this unprofessional image led to a negative impact on Korea’s business relations with foreign clients. Also, many problems such as bribery and requesting special consideration for a job position are happening during this drinking session.
