Binge drinking 2 Considering the harmful impact, many countries enforced related policies and regulations. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden ban sales of alcohol during a certain period of time during a day. But Korean can buy alcohol 24/7. Also, in New Zealand, owners of restaurants and bars will get penalty if they serve intoxicated people. However, bar owners in Korea do not get any penalty even though they keep serving alcohol to intoxicated people. Furthermore, France, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Australia bans TV commercial about alcohol to prevent the juveniles’ exposure to alcohol. In contrary, Korean can see TV commercials during the prime time and there are a lots of TV commercials related with various kinds of alcohol. The most ironical thing is that drinking scenes are aired without any restriction while smoking scenes are blurred considering the harmful effect of cigarettes. Regarding the price, there is no minimum price guideline for alcohol in Korea while European countries set minimum price for alcohol to deter alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. The worst thing is that criminals will get less punishment when they committed crimes while they are drunk. According to the Korean law, drunk people is considered as people who cannot control themselves and have no will and thus they are treated in the same way of people who have mental disease. Among the four dragons (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea) in Asia, only Korea is facing sluggish economy. I think this is partly due to the prevailing and unproductive drinking culture of Korea and the socio-economic costs related with it. It is time for Korean worker to be sober and improve labor productivity which is less than half of the average of OECD countries. Also it is time to establish clean and constructive business relations and working environment. Furthermore, punishment and penalty for the crimes related with alcohol should be stricter. In this sense, government’s proactive measures are urgently required. Following the best practices of advanced countries, which are listed above, can be the first step. Without tackling this problem, Korea’s promising future will not be guaranteed.