Is underage drinking not normal in Korea? (1 Viewer)

[blueberries]

I wonder if anyone has bit insight on this cause its bit confusing for me why its big deal if idol was caught smoking/drinking before they debuted.

If I compare to it to my high school years it was definitely more normal to drink than not to amd many smoked too even if that wasn't as common. Not that it was legal or permitted but still sth people commonly did without making a fuzz.

Idk for me drinking while underage doesn't tell anything of person but if its rly uncommon in Korea I guess it makes sense why its such big deal. In other hand Korea has quite heavy drinking culture which makes me wonder if its rly so clear cut between minors and adults? Or is the issue that idol was caught doing that (before they became idol) but if common folk did it it'd be considered normal teen behavior?

 

[Yili]

Korean culture in general is extremely hard on its youth so I'm not surprised that they will take the chance to criticize someone for their past actions like that even if a lot of people do it themselves. I don't think it's abnormally common to drink underage in Korea nor is it very uncommon.

 

[blueberries]

Oh and I'm interested hearing of ur experiences as well. Is it frowned or neutral or even applauded where ur from?

 

[SnowWhite]

Not that I could say I know about Korea, but PLENTY of idols got caught doing it, so to me it seems like average Korean teenagers would also do it. Not sure why they are so harsh on celebrities when they themselves probably did it.
I was 7/8 ish when I tried alcohol for the first time. It was very small amount and my parents were around, but I wonder how knetz would react to that

 

[Ashla_K]

In my country is normal to see teens drinking alcohol. I remember in my school days how some of my classmates would talk about secret parties or going to clubs (with someone older than them, so they could be allowed to get in) and drink there. Smoking is another thing though, it's kind of unusual for people to smoke in my country (no matter the age), not because we have a ban or something like that, I would say is not as accepted as drinking, if that makes sense.

 

[RandAlThor]

I think it a typical bs double standard.

you can not promote drinking 24/7 as fun cool and necessary for the work place and then go all ape shit when the kids pick up on it and do it.

Shoot given how important it is in culture they ae trying to get ahead of the curve like good students.


Always made me crazy when hosts asked kids who just turned legal how much they could drink....

 

[Myco]

I'm pretty sure it's as normal as it is here in Germany, just that they try to be much more silent about it since it seems to be taken extremely serious over there

 

[Venomous]

Korean society is not only known for its drinking culture, but also the high rates of alcoholism (one of, if not the highest in the world) and drunk driving. Drinking underage is pretty common, but there's a HUGE double standard in regards to the expectations for idols versus the general public. Public shaming is a big part of many cultures, especially so in Korea. Celebrities are supposed to be ideal people, free from any controversy, and the public LOVES seeing people fall from grace, istg netizens going after celebrities for common transgressions is almost a national sport at this point. Basically, drinking underage is common, but you best hide it really well, or it will come back to haunt you.

 

[raymondchouku]

Idk for me drinking while underage doesn't tell anything of person

I wouldn't necessarily agree... Permissive and Authoritarian parents tend to breed rather toxic children.

Oh and I'm interested hearing of ur experiences as well. Is it frowned or neutral or even applauded where ur from?

erm.. well... I'd suggest considering my area rather than my country. In my province, it was rural (</ 15000) and people tended to engage in three things in regularity: Drinking, Sex, and Church. It was not frowned upon. Some parents drank with their kids and so on, beyond the casual beer and moving into pints of Jack Daniels. My first real drink was.. a screwdriver at age 11 or 12. Well... about 6 screwdrivers, but I digress.. lol

 

[Darkseid]

Korea has one of the highest drinking rates among adults, however among underage kids it's heavily frowned upon and there are a few reasons.

From what I've read, underage people still drink but it's mostly in their homes, in secret etc. If you go out to clubs while underage, it usually implies two things- you're using fake IDs and you're probably an iljin.

The iljin association is what upsets Knetz mostly. The drinking by itself isn't bad, however in Korean society, underage drinkers are usually iljins who have a really bad reputation since they engage in inappropriate behavior like stealing money from classmates, bullying, "promiscuous behavior", violence etc. Now obviously not everyone does this, but due to their severe bullying cases in school as multiple instances of iljins being found drinking in clubs and such, when any idol or public figure is exposed as visiting clubs when they were still a minor- it leads people to think they were also probably involved in this other stuff. This is why it's kinda a bigger deal compared to underage drinking/smoking in other countries.

However underage drinking by itself isn't career ending unless the bullying/physical violence gets confirmed.

 

[Abeamus]

I think it's one of those things where it happens but it's not something that you should be "promoting" which is where it ends up coming back to bite celebrities if they've done it in the past and they have to apologise for it otherwise they could be seen as thinking it's no big deal so usually idols end up folding whenever they get caught doing it.

 

[Villains]

It's not something crazy where I'm from I know lots of people that are around the age of 12 and already do drugs, drink, and smoke, and no one cares. Lots of people at my school will go to parties after school and do these things and they continue even after getting caught by the police.

 

[Lovely_Cornchips]

I think it a typical bs double standard.

you can not promote drinking 24/7 as fun cool and necessary for the work place and then go all ape shit when the kids pick up on it and do it.

Shoot given how important it is in culture they ae trying to get ahead of the curve like good students.


Always made me crazy when hosts asked kids who just turned legal how much they could drink....

The amount of times I watched Hello Counselor and there was a CLEAR alcoholism issue was ridiculious. For this to bleed into the youth of Korea (I'm not saying all households are like this) isn't surprising.