By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
A majority of Koreans say they give a gift of about 50,000 won at weddings, funerals and other ceremonies for friends, colleagues and relatives but four out of five people say they don't like the practice.
According to a survey of 993 salaried workers by Incruit, a job market information provider, 70.7 percent of respondents said they put an average of 50,000 won into envelope as a gift or condolence money each time they go to a wedding, a baby's first birthday, or a funeral.
Unlike in other countries, Korea has a unique culture of giving ``an envelope of cash'' instead of other gift items to congratulate or console at joyful or sorrowful events, giving financial support to each other. As these events usually cost a lot of money, this tradition has served to help offset the cost, but it has become burdensome to many.
The average was 30,000 won a few years ago, but inflation led people to wonder whether that was enough. The survey showed that only 14.4 percent say they give an average of 30,000 won and one out of 10 said they put an average of 100,000 won into the white envelope.
The respondents said they were spending an average of 5.9 percent of their monthly salaries on gift money. It means a worker who makes 3 million won a month spends around 180,000 won in cash for such events.
Four out of five people in the survey said the tradition was a financial burden.
The cash gift has become a complicated etiquette issue for many. Internet bulletin boards for salaried workers are often filled with questions asking how much money they should give as a gift to a friend whom they haven't heard from in years. Some ask whether it is OK to bring his or her family with them to the wedding banquet after putting only 50,000 won in the envelope as a gift.
The tradition also puts pressure on employees in subordinate positions when they receive invitations from superiors. Incheon City's superintendent of education, who retired in July, for example, was criticized in April for having sent out 1,800 invitations to principals, vice principals and other heads of the education sector in Incheon City to his son's wedding. He was planning to make 42 staff members of Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education help in collecting the cash envelopes at the wedding ceremony, but withdrew the plan when he faced heavy criticism.