By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Korean households, including ones comprising of single people, spent 458,000 won as gift money or condolence money for weddings, funerals and other ceremonies for friends, colleagues and relatives last year. A total 7.2 trillion won was spent to maintain or strengthen social ties, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The statistical office said households comprising of two people or over gave on average 42,367 won a month as gift money last year, up 11.9 percent from the average 37,875 won of 2005, compared to an average income increase of 5.1 percent.
The statistical office said the spending seems to have soared because of the ``double spring'' last year _ there were two springs according to the lunar calendar. As couples getting married in the double spring year are believed to live happily, more couples were motivated to take the plunge. The number of couples who tied the knot last year totaled 332,800, up 5.2 percent form a year ago.
Though giving financial support for each other on such important occasions has served as insurance, such traditions of congratulating happy occasions and sharing burdens of sorrowful events has become burdensome.
Hong Yun-hee, an employee at LG Electronics who spends up to 300,000 won or 400,000 won for such events in peak seasons, said the burden has increased because a 30,000 won cash gift seems too small now. ``The meals served to guests at weddings would cost at least 50,000 won per person at hotels,'' she said.
As she is still single, she doubts whether she will get all the money she has given to her friends on their weddings back. ``Now, before putting the money in the envelope, I think about whether the host of the event would pay me back by coming to my wedding later,'' she said.
As the burden is such, her company set a ceiling on the cash gift given to colleagues, according to the position of each person. For example, Hong would contribute 10,000 won for each colleague's wedding, while her boss would give 30,000 won. ``The burden would be bigger if I had to give the money as an individual.''
According to a survey of 1,457 women by Moneta, an investment consulting portal, 34.3 percent said such cash gifts given to people is money too good to be thrown away.
chizpizza@koreatimes.co.kr
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