If you work in Korea, sooner or later you’ll run into Korean drinking culture firsthand — usually through a hoesik invite. It’s one of those words that doesn’t translate cleanly into English…
I’ve sat through more hoesik than I can count, loved some, dreaded others. Here’s what it actually looks like, and the etiquette that goes with it.
What is hoesik, exactly?
Hoesik is a work dinner — usually with food and alcohol — that happens after hours with people from your team or department. My dad’s generation treated it as a basically mandatory part of office life. These days, MZ and Gen Z employees in Korea increasingly see it as an extension of work rather than a fun night out, and plenty of people would rather skip it.
Traditionally, hoesik meant an evening that started with dinner and often didn’t end until the early morning.
1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round
Korean hoesik often don’t stop at one restaurant. You’ll hear people talk about 1st round (1차), 2nd round (2차), and even 3rd round (3차):
- 1차: Usually grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal) and soju
- 2차: Fried chicken and beer at a chicken restaurant
- 3차: Noraebang (karaoke room), with fruit platters and more drinks
Even for an outgoing, social person, that’s a genuinely long night. If you’re not someone who enjoys drinking or staying out late, a full 1st-to-3rd-round hoesik can be exhausting.
It’s gotten a lot more relaxed
The old hierarchy-driven version of hoesik — where you went if a senior colleague said you were going, no real option to decline — is fading. Now it’s common to see:
- Lunch hoesik instead of dinner: a nice meal during work hours, done by the afternoon
- Senior staff paying the bill and then leaving early, so junior employees can relax without a boss around
- Companies that no longer treat attendance as mandatory
I didn’t love hoesik much myself when I worked full-time, and I skipped plenty of them — which would have been much harder to do a generation ago.
Who pays?
In most cases, whoever has the highest rank — often the boss — pays for the whole hoesik. Korea generally doesn’t split the bill at these dinners the way, say, Japan sometimes does. It’s typically all-or-nothing: one person covers everyone, rather than everyone paying their share.
Because of that, some employees genuinely enjoy hoesik as a chance to eat well and drink for free, even if they’d rather not go through the whole night.
Korean Drinking Culture Etiquette: Age and Rank Come First
Korea’s drinking etiquette follows the same age-and-hierarchy logic that shows up everywhere else in Korean culture:
- Alcohol is poured in order of rank, then age
- When pouring for someone, you hold the bottle with both hands
- When you clink glasses before drinking, junior or younger people are expected to turn their head away and drink with both hands on the glass
This can look surprising if you’re not used to it, but for most Koreans it’s second nature — nobody thinks twice about it at the table.
Geonbaesa: the toast chant
A geonbaesa is a short toast — part cheer, part group chant — said right before everyone drinks. Honestly, I think it’s pretty old-fashioned, and it’s mostly people in their 50s and up who still do it seriously.
Two classic examples:
- 청바지 — an acronym for “youth starts right now” (청춘은 바로 지금부터), everyone shouts “청바지!” together
- 원더풀 — “wish for more than you want” (원하는 것보다 더 잘 풀리자), same call-and-response format
You don’t need to be clever about it — literally saying a few words and ending with something like “let’s do our best” or “thanks for your hard work” counts as a geonbaesa too.
Personally, the whole geonbaesa tradition makes me cringe a little, and it’s honestly one of the reasons I’m not a huge fan of hoesik.
What people actually eat and drink
Hoesik food tends to center on meat: grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal), grilled intestines (gopchang), or fried chicken. Koreans are also fairly particular about pairing food with the “right” drink — not out of any deep expertise, just tradition and habit:
- Fried chicken → beer
- Samgyeopsal → soju
Then there’s somaek — soju mixed with beer — which people drink regardless of what’s on the menu. It gets you drunk faster than either drink alone, so it’s worth skipping if you don’t handle alcohol well.
If you want to dig deeper into what soju actually is, Wikipedia has a solid overview of its history and how it’s made.
Can’t make it to a hoesik tonight? You can grab soju and simple anju (drinking snacks) at any Korean convenience store and recreate the vibe at home.
A personal take
When I lived alone, meat was expensive, so hoesik was honestly a good deal — free food I wouldn’t normally treat myself to. Even though I complained about hoesik out loud, sitting down with coworkers, eating good food, and drinking together actually helped me unload stress, get advice on things I was dealing with, and talk to people I didn’t usually get a chance to know better. That part was genuinely nice.
The hard part was the physical toll — being out past midnight drinking when you have work the next morning is rough, and there were nights I wanted to sneak out early.
If you’re an outgoing, social person, Korean hoesik culture will probably suit you fine. If not, it’s okay to admit that — and increasingly, it’s okay to say so out loud in Korea too.
Quick etiquette tips for foreigners
- Pour with both hands, especially for someone older or more senior
- If someone pours for you, hold your glass with both hands
- When you drink with someone senior, it’s polite to turn your head slightly away
- You’re not expected to keep up with everyone’s drinking pace — it’s fine to pace yourself
- It’s increasingly normal to decline a hoesik invite, especially outside more traditional companies