For pub owner Jun Jung-sook, Seoul's once-vibrant Nokdu Street is not what it used to be when people queued for a table to end their day with Korean mung bean pancakes and shots of the fiery local rice wine makgeolli.
The more common sight now is of half-empty pubs and bars along the neon-lit alley and streets, a telling sign of a sharp shift in South Korea's once-notorious drinking culture.
That change has been driven by corporate Korea slowing down on hoesik, or after-work drinking bouts, the emergence of an emboldened class of younger female workers who are refusing to be part of these drunken sessions and a general reluctance of consumers to open their wallets due to higher interest rates and lingering inflation.
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