[CNN] How to survive a drinking session in Korea

(Yonhap)

[CNN]

Most companies in South Korea have hoesik at least once a month and sometimes every week.

Literally, this means dinner with co-workers.

In practice, it means official eating/drinking fests involving multiple rounds of alcohol at multiple venues.

For the foreign business traveler, using foreignness as an excuse to bow out of the action only goes so far.

The pressure to participate is intense.

Drinking etiquette is the first thing you teach foreign guests,” says Bryan Do, a Korean-American director at the South Korean branch of a U.S. company.

“It was shocking when I first arrived in Korea.

“My boss was a graduate of Korea University [renowned for its hardy drinking culture] and at my first hoesik, we started out with everyone filling a beer glass with soju, and downing it on the spot. That was just the beginning.”

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