Drinking in Korea: Soju Part 1

I like to say that Koreans are the Irish of Asia. Koreans like to drink. Oh hell yes they like to drink. Drinking culture in Korea is actually very fascinating and really sophisticated, so I wanted to write a few articles about drinking in Korea.

And what else could be a better candidate to start with than Soju?

 

First Google image search result of ‘Soju’.

Korean Alcohol – Soju, what is it?

Hello Wikipedia.

“Soju (Hangul 소주; Hanja 燒酒) is a distilled beverage native to Korea. Its taste is comparable to vodka, though often slightly sweeter due to the sugars added in the manufacturing process, and more commonly consumed neat.

Though traditionally made from rice, most major brands supplement or even replace the rice with other starches such as potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato, or tapioca. Soju is clear in colour and typically varies in alcohol content from about 18.5% to about 45% alcohol by volume.”

Soju is generally around 20% alcohol content, and clear. It comes in those green bottles you see in the picture above, generally. It is the primary alcoholic drink of Korea… because it’s available about anywhere, and ridiculously cheap (a dollar for a bottle or so).

For first timers, it smells like rubbing alcohol, and tastes like… uh, rubbing alcohol. Yes, you’ll get used to it after a few shots, but in most cases I’ve seen, first timers with Soju never ended up well.

The exact process of how soju is made and other details will be discussed in another entry, since there’s a lot to it.

What kinds of Soju are there? (By location)

 

Image from Naver

That is the map of South Korea. From top left to right, then bottom left to right:

1. O2 Rin, or Malgurin (맑은린) 

Where : South Chung-cheong

Alcohol Content : 19.5%

2. Cham-Yi-Seul Fresh (참이슬 후레시)

Where : Seoul and Kyung-gi

Alcohol Content : 19.8%

3. Chuh-Um-Chu-Rum (처음처럼)

Where : Kwang-won

Alcohol Content : 19.5%

4. See-won (시원)

Where : North Chung-cheong

Alcohol Content : 20%

5. Cham Soju (참소주)

Where : Daegu, North Kyung-san

Alcohol Content : 19.7%

6. Han-La-San-Mool (한라산물)

Where : Jeju Island

Alcohol Content : 21%

7. Ip-Se-Ju (잎새주)

Where : Gwang-ju, South Jun-La

Alcohol Content : 20.1%

8. Hite (하이트) [Author : Not to be confused with Hite beer]

Where : North Jun-La

Alcohol Content : 21%

9. White (화이트)

Where : Ul-san, South Kyung-san

Alcohol Content : 20.5%

10. C1 (시원)

Where : Busan

Alcohol Content : 20%

List goes on and on. This only counts the regular, generic soju. There’s the well-known An-dong soju (40% Alcohol content) too.

The largest Soju manufacturer is Jinro. Their trademark soju Cham-yi-seoul sells all over the world in over 60 nations. This is also the kind of Soju you’ll probably see in the USA as well. But sometimes, depending on the store you’re at and the location you live in, you might see some others too. From my experience in LA, Chamyiseoul is usually the most expensive one (3~4 dollars per bottle at a grocery store), and Cham soju or chuh-um-chu-rum being the cheaper ones (I’ve seen them as cheap as 2 dollars per bottle.)

Next up, more sophisticated kinds of Soju, how to drink Soju with Koreans, drinking games, cocktails, and more!

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Korea’s Late Night Online Gaming Ban

Korea is well-known to be the central hub of online gaming. The nation of Starcraft, Diablo, Lineage, Maple Story… Although they don’t exist as ubiquitous as they used to be, PC Cafes(Known as PC-Bangs in Korea), still dominate the entertainment industry for teens. Growing up in Korea until the end of middle school, the only form of entertainment we had was computer games, especially online games like Lineage, UO, and so on.

Here is my opinon. I could go on and on about this forever but to keep it short : It’s not that Koreans are born with some sort of crazy instinct to play online games. It is because there are not much other forms of entertainment available for young people before the drinking age. (Drinking culture in Korea is immense and endless to describe, I’ll get to them in another post). Take Seoul for example, 10 million people in one city. There are not enough space for people to go out and play sports and do outdoorsy things. So a lot of people turn to online games, and get addicted to it.

So check this out. Korean Government is planning to enforce this new legislation called “Shut-down law”, which bars anyone under 16 from logging on to their gaming accounts from midnight to 6am. (Link in Korean: 게임 셧다운제)

Given the widespread addiction to online gaming in Korean society, I think there’s got to be some sort of solution. But given the fact that minors in Korea have very limited forms of entertainment besides online gaming, this wouldn’t really help. One might say, “hey, they could just get more sleep!”, but I think most will just have to spend that time studying. As far as I know, most high schoolers in Korea do not go to sleep at midnight. Education in Korea is brutally competitive, and it’s one and only priority students are supposed to have…

So instead of banning online games, they should be offering teens better after-school activities such as sports and music (besides piano). Something that teens can enjoy and the rest of the society can accept. But it seems like Korean society is still not ready accept such notion.

Okay – they’re trying to push the law up to “under 19 years old”. Give teens a break, christ.
(Shut-down law to cover up to 19 year olds – 셧다운제 적용 만19세로 상향 추진)

Human Rights Violation in North Korea – Re-education camps

An article from Chosun about North Korean Re-education camps. 

Original Article in Korean Here

~ ~ ~

Translation : North Korea’s re-education wasteland: “Have a shovel. Now you’re on your own”

 

There are at least 480 political prisons and forced labor camps operating in North Korea.

 

There are 210 forced labor camps, 23 re-education camps, 5 refining camps, 27 assembly centers, and 6 political prisons, according to the findings released by North Korea Human Rights Record Center on the 26th. 13,000 North Korean defectors were asked to testify for this find.

 

North Korean detention facilities are similar to South Korean jails. These are located in every city, district, and borough of NK. Assembly centers and refining camps are legally justified detention facilities in NK. Since 2000, they are often used to detain citizens who tried to defect, usually without trial. Convicts who have gone through trials must serve time in re-education camps. The worst human rights violation happens in political prisons, and so far 6 have been identified. (More after jump)

“They took 500 prisoners to a complete wasteland, gave us shovels, and forced us to dig holes in the ground and live in them. A lot of people died”, said a NK defector who was detained in Ham-Heung re-education camp in the 1990s. Another said “people in re-education camps had to sleep in an open field with just stacks of rice straws.” The facilities rarely provided food, and the prisoners were forced to survive by growing their own harvests.

 

Sometimes animal sheds were used as prisons. “a pigpen was enforced with walls and was used as re-education camps. It was supposed to hold about 30 people, but over 100 were forced in it” said another defector.

 

Interrogation by North Korea’s secret police generally came with severe violence. Defectors were “beaten till their toenails came off”, “beaten till their lips and nose were broken and left without treatment”. Female defectors were “raped by prison guards and were forced to have abortion.”

 

NK Human Rights Record Center claims that North Korea does not reveal the existence of these facilities to the outside world, or provides falsified information about them. NK only acknowledged 3 of the 23 re-education camps, and runs them as exhibition centers for public.

 

NK Human Rights Record Center’s director Yoon said, “North Korea runs enough detention facilities all over the nation to be called a “prison republic.”

 Dark star : Political Prisons, Double circle: Assembly Centers, Dark Square: Re-Education Camps, Dark Diamond: Refining Camps, Grey Circle: Detention Centers, Grey Triangle: Forced Labor Camps.

K-pop : Seo Taiji

Well this certainly is a mess.

If you missed the story, then this is what’s been going on, in a nutshell.

Seo Taiji, back in my teen years, was the guy that started what is known as K-Pop today. Before H.O.T. and G.O.D. and all those guys. The group was known as Seo Taiji and Boys then (서태지와 아이들). And that… was back in the 90s.

Well, what’s revealed on television a couple days ago was that Seo Taiji and Lee Jiah got married back in 1997, when she was 19. I’ve read stuff saying that Seo taiji followed her around since she was in Middle School. They got married in Nevada with different names, and moved to Arizona and Atlanta until they parted. Their parents didn’t even know. Damn.

So the news would’ve been shocking enough to find out that Seo Taiji was married. but they had long divorced and they’re still fighting over the lawsuit Lee jiah filed back in 2006. My childhood dreams, crushed.

Korean Food : Gamja Tang

Gamjatang(Pork Stew with potatoes, 감자탕) is one of my favorite Korean food in… pretty much the whole world. And I’m really craving a nice meal with Gamjatang and some soju.. So here it goes.

It is also the reason I gained about 10 pounds in the last few months of my college career.

Behold.

 

Okay, it certainly does look like a giant bowl of heart-clogger, or a red soup of death (those were the first things my American friends said when I brought them out to a gamjatang restaurant).

Origin

Quoting Wikipedia: Gamjatang or pork bone soup is a spicy Korean soup made with pork spine, vegetables, green onions, hot peppers and ground wild sesame seeds. It is a matter of contention whether the name of the soup comes from the word for potato (감자; gamja) or not, because the soup is frequently served without potatoes.

Now, the history of Gamjatang apparently goes all the way back to the Three Kingdoms Era (4th~7th Century), and the word Gamja(감자) actually originates from Korean name of Pork Spine (Gamja-bone, 감자뼈). That is why the stew is called Gamjatang, not because of the potatoes, but because of the pork spines. Which makes sense, given the long history of the cousine and the fact that potato was not cheap enough to be available to everyone until recently in Korea. (Source: 감자탕의 감자는 밭에서 나는 감자가 아니고… )

Where to get it
Gamjatang, if you are anywhere in Korea, should not be difficult at all to find. In the States, it might be a different story. If you go to any Koreatowns, or any Korean restaurants, chances are that they might have Gamjatang. But from my own experiences, I would not recommend just going to any Korean restaurant for a full Gamjatang experience.

So, if you are in Southern California, especially in Los Angeles, I recommend Hamjipark (함지박). (Yelp)

There are two restaurants. One in the middle of LA Koreatown (6th and Catalina), and the original one near West LA (Pico and Crenshaw). The original Hamjipark is a small restaurant – 6 tables if I remember correctly. It’s been there for quite a while, and has been run by the same ol’ grandma (turns out that my mother actually knows her). She makes all the side dishes and food. The other one is run by her daughter (the sign has one extra word that means daughter in Korean – 딸) and is much nicer and clean. but they have the same food, I think.

If you ever go here, Gamjatang ain’t the only good food… good pork ribs and other traditional Korean food that you won’t regret. Just remember, one Gamjatang is about 16~18 dollars. Do not be fooled by the price. It can feed 3 people just fine.

Recipe?
Here’s a link to the recipe on Naver. If it turns out that people actually want it in English (or people read this blog at all), then I’ll put it up later.
감자탕 조리법

Welcome!

Welcome to Hanguk Story!

I made this blog to talk basically anything about Korea, especially food, movies, soap operas, K-pop, North Korea, etc… Anything about Korea that I think is important for people to know better will be posted here.

I have been an avid reader of
AskaKorean!
AngryAsianMan
and so on.

If you have any recommendation, question, or any comment, just shoot me and email and I’ll get back to you ASAP. FYI, I currently live in Seoul… so excuse me for the time difference.