This article can be considered a thematic continuation of the previous: North Korea’s latest discovery: Alcohol without the day-after hangover
South Koreans drink twice as much liquor as Russians. This national obsession with alcohol seems irreversible.
You might be surprised to know that the biggest alcohol consumers are not drinking in sub-zero Siberia; they are in South Korea.
South Koreans drink twice as much liquor as Russians and they consume more alcohol than any other nation.
Soju, a fermented-rice spirit, is king, with more than 550 billion litres drunk each year.
Drinking is treated as the social lubricant to build workplace camaraderie, secure business deals and to earn trust.
With an estimated 1.6 million alcohol addicted, and the social-health costs reaching $20bn a year, we wonder if South Korea as a country does have a future and if instead it should start seriously reflecting on the reunification project with North Korea, where hangover-free liquor has been discovered.
Source: Aljazeera