New York Times Questions a Korean Wedding Tradition

Posted on 17 November 2009 by Korean Beacon

What’s with the New York Times and their recent interest in Koreans? In the last couple of weeks, there have been two articles about Korean adoptees and South Koreans struggling with race. In fact, we were contacted last week by the Times about finding an interesting Korean-American to feature in their paper. I guess Koreans help sell papers. In today’s edition of the New York Times, there’s an interesting article about the Korean wedding tradition of handing over money in an envelope, which originates from the custom of helping friends defray wedding expenses.

Every year, the roughly 330,000 South Korean couples who get married spend an average of 15 million to 20 million won, or $13,000 to $17,000, in wedding expenses, said Lee Woong-jin, head of Sunoo, a matchmaking company that conducts an annual survey on wedding expenses. The cost can exceed 50 million won for hotel weddings.

Much of that is covered by the cash gifts. Last year, South Koreans gave out 8 trillion won, or 524,500 won for each household, in cash gifts for weddings and funerals, according to the National Statistical Office.

“This is a ‘you-help-me, I-help-you’ tradition. I don’t see anything wrong with it. You chip in and you get help in return,” said Han Seung-ho, 33, a photographer whose wedding in October attracted 370 guests. “Without their cash gifts, my wedding would have been a serious financial burden for me.”

The reason why the tradition is being questioned is that cash being transitioned from hand to hand could lead to bribes and corruption. Kind of sounds like something from the Sopranos? For the full article, go to the NY Times.