Drinking culture in Korea centuries past

People sleeping on the streets around 1900-10 / Courtesy of Robert Neff collection

By Robert Neff

New Years has arrived and many people will celebrate it with friends and family. Undoubtedly, alcohol will play a large part of this celebration ― especially beer.

It is unclear when beer was introduced into Korea but more than likely it involved Western warships. One drinking incident took place in August 1875 when a British warship ― sailing along the coast of Korea ― was visited by a group of local Korean dignitaries. The Koreans were given a tour around the ship and then, in a sign of friendship, drinks were exchanged.

The senior Korean offered makgeolli to his host who described it as "whitish in colour and sour in taste." The British captain answered by commanding a keg of pale ale to be brought out and served to the Koreans who gave "no signs of pleasure or disgust" while drinking it.

A decade later, a couple of Englishmen stopped at a Korean inn located halfway between Jemulpo (modern Incheon) and Seoul. Wanting to be friendly, the men shared three quarts of German beer with the inn's Korean customers. Most of the Koreans "expressed their high opinion of the liquor" but one man "took but one mouthful and ejected it with an expression of extreme disgust." Perhaps what I heard as a boy is true: beer is an acquired taste.

Koreans were no strangers to alcohol ― especially makgeolli. An American missionary wrote in the late 1880s: "The drink curse is widely prevalent in Korea … [and] Maudlin sots or drunken brawls, with men tugging at each other's top-knots are, alas, a common sight upon the streets." Commentary about Koreans and alcohol often appeared in the letters and diaries of visiting Westerners.

George Clayton Foulk, an American naval officer who traveled extensively throughout Korea in 1884, described his Korean servants as living only for makgeolli and card games and "were careless devils who seem not to know enough to worry or suffer much" from their over-indulgence.

Several years later, two English explorers described an encounter with "an old woman, over sixty, drunk and happy, trying to support herself with her long staff, but eventually tripping over a pile of beans in the market place. She was kindly helped to her feet, smiling and reclining, everyone she passed giving her a friendly set up to keep her on her feet."

Drunks were so commonly encountered on the streets that one Englishman surmised that Koreans were lightweights unable to handle the effects of alcohol. Through "a series of most careful experiments with Scotch whiskey" he later amended his theory and concluded that Koreans were more than able to hold their own in regards to the consumption of alcohol.

According to Isabella Bird Bishop, an intrepid and elderly English explorer who traveled extensively throughout Korea in the mid-1890s: "drunkenness is an outstanding feature in Korea. And it is not disreputable … A great dignitary even may roll on the floor drunk at the end of a meal, at which he has eaten to repletion, without losing caste, and on becoming sober receives the congratulations of inferiors on being rich enough to afford such a luxury."

But amusing drinking anecdotes are not confined only to Koreans. Missionaries were generally teetotalers and often criticized Koreans and their fellow Westerners for drinking but sometimes ― when separated from their pious peers ― they indulged in a drink or two. One such missionary was Charles W. Power. In the late 1880s, he was accused by his fellow missionaries of a number of offenses including "criminal intercourse with women," breaking the Sabbath and drinking alcohol. He denied all the charges but one ― he admitted to taking two quarts of beer on a fishing trip with some Korean friends. The allegations eventually resulted in him leaving the country.

Horace N. Allen, another early American missionary in Korea, occasionally drank beer and alcohol ― even though it angered his fellow missionaries. He saw no harm in it as long as it was done in moderation. Years later, after he became the American Minister (ambassador) to Korea, he described alcohol as "the cause of most downfalls in this far East Land."

The American legation was notorious for drunks. In the early 1900s, several employees were chastised for their drunken behavior and the legation's constable was eventually fired. They, however, were not the worst offenders. That dubious honor belongs to William H. Parker ― the American Minister to Korea in 1886.

Parker arrived in Korea on board an American warship drunk. His condition was so severe that he was accompanied to Seoul by the ship's medical officer. During his short tenure as the American representative, most of it was spent drinking or recovering from drinking. Horace N. Allen, the legation's doctor, declared Parker unfit for service and ― coupled with the American community in Seoul and King Gojong's requests for him to be removed ― he was recalled to the United States. Parker later denied he had a problem with alcohol and claimed emphatically that he used "no liquor, beer, or wine of any description."

Said like a true alcoholic.

Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com.