TOP 10 GIFTS TO GIVE IN THE FAR EAST TO MAKE A GREAT IMPRESSION

1 | Page

Executive Report

Top 10 Gifts t o G i ve i n Korea to

Make a Great Impression

Korean society is all about giving and receiving gifts. While Westerners are not expected

to know what to give and when, this can really work in your favor if you’re ready with the

right gift at the right moment.

1. Souvenir from Home

Small souvenirs from home show great

consideration to your Korean hosts for a

business meeting or when getting together

with friends. In most cases, these gifts don’t

have to be expensive (but they shouldn’t be

obviously cheap either).

While the value limits that Korean

companies put on gifts their employees are

allowed to accept is generally higher than

those allowed by Western companies, you

should not choose very expensive gifts unless

your gift is explicitly for the company as a

whole. There is a delicate balance to

maintain here. While the value of the gift

may in fact need to rise in proportion to the

value of the business you are intending to do

with your Korean counterparts, you certainly

don’t want to go overboard and give the

impression that you are trying to bribe your

way into a deal.

Example souvenirs would be anything that

the recipient can enjoy and which will

remind them of you, such as a small replica

of the Alamo if you’re from San Antonio, an

Elvis memento if you call Memphis home, or

a Disney toy for your counterpart’s children

if you live anywhere in central Florida.

When a company group from the US is

visiting a Korean company, I often

recommend that they take a nicely framed

photograph of their city’s skyline with a

small metal plate engraved with the

company name on the bottom. But

photographs or paintings of typical scenes

from the area can make great gifts that your

hosts will hang on the wall to remember you

for years.

2. Liquor

Never leave the airport without picking up

some duty-free alcohol. Spend in accordance

with the level of importance of the person

you are visiting. A good bottle of whisky

2 | Page

makes a great gift. You can never go wrong

with a gift of high quality liquor: the few

Korean businesspeople who don’t drink

won’t be offended since they can still

display it on a shelf or re-gift it for someone

who does drink, and those who do drink will

appreciate it very much for themselves.

3. Invitation for Dinner

If on business in Korea, it is unlikely that

your hosts will let you pay for a meal. But

your effort to try to pay will certainly be

appreciated. Even if you ring up an old

Korean acquaintance who you’d like to meet

again, it would be tacky to get together

without offering an invitation to lunch or

dinner. Keep in mind that you’ll have to

fight hard to pay so if you intend to do so,

you should make sure that you beat your

friend or business counterpart to the cash

Also, if something great happens in your life,

such as a job promotion or winning the

lottery, your Korean counterparts are likely

to ask you to buy them dinner. You can insist

on the same when they have something good

happen to them, too!

4. Household Goods

You must never arrive at a Korean’s home

without a gift.

It can be most anything, and a souvenir or

liquor will suffice. But if you don’t have

either on hand, it is also accepted practice

to stop by the supermarket or convenience

store on the way to pick up household

products (Toilet paper is a particularly

popular gift for housewarming parties in

Korea!), juice or fruit. Budgeting at least

$10-15 for household gifts is appropriate.

If your hosts have picked you up and are

bringing you to their place, you should have

prepared these gifts in advance. If you

forgot, make it a point to ask your host to

stop the car so you can get something.

He/she will tell you that a gift isn’t

necessary but ignore this nonsense. Insist on

stopping to get something and explain that

you’d never want to show up at their house

empty-handed. He/she will relent eventually

and your gift will be greatly appreciated.

5. Money

Money is the standard gift at weddings or

funerals and one-year birthdays of babies. It

is always inserted into a white envelope in

advance. Also, in the case of weddings, you

should put your name on the front of the

envelope.

Expect to break the bank a bit here since, if

you’ve been invited, you’ve already been

proven a “close friend”. About $100 would

be average. You might get away with $70 or

so, but don’t give less. And always give in

multiples of W10,000.

It would really look tacky to give an odd

amount of, say, W103,600 and any amount

with the number “4” in it is considered bad

luck.

Also, if visiting a Korean friend’s home for

the Lunar New Year, you should take some

extra money too as the children will line up

to bow to you and will expect cash in return.

You can get away with $5 or so for small

children, but the bigger kids will want more

($20 and up…).

3 | Page

If you’re confused about how much to give,

don’t worry! As a foreigner, you would never

be expected to know these customs by

heart, and it is acceptable to ask a local

friend for guidance.

6. Gift Basket

The standard gift to give a family you are

visiting during the major Korean holidays of

Seol-nal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok is a

commercially prepared gift basket.

On these days, the shops will display them

out front. If you’re walking any distance at

all to get to your host’s home, you’ll have

no problem finding a place that sells them.

Inside these gift baskets are collections of

household goods, non-perishable foods,

fruits or other goodies. Expect to spend a bit

for a nice gift.

7. Invitation to Visit

This is an excellent “gift” to give after your

hosts in Asia have shown a great deal of

hospitality to you. It is unlikely that the

invitee will take you up on the offer and

extending invitations that aren’t intended to

be claimed is a common practice of

etiquette amongst Koreans too, but you

should be ready in case someone does call

you up from the Korea saying they are on

their way.

Hosting them in your home won’t be

expected (though your guests may

appreciate the opportunity to experience

“real life” in your country by staying at your

home) and should such a situation arise, you

can be very clear on your desire to help

arrange accommodation at a nearby hotel. If

Koreans do visit, you should be prepared to

pick up the tab on most everything you do

together which is to reciprocate for them

paying for everything when you visited

them. You would not generally be expected

to pay for their hotel or activities they did

when you weren’t around.

8. Gift Certificate

A gift certificate to a local department store

makes a great birthday or friendship gift to

someone with whom you have an ongoing

relationship. If buying for a Korean friend in

the US, you’ll look cheap if you spent

something like $10-20. A $50 gift certificate

will be appreciated much more than a $10

gift certificate.

Also, because appearances do matter in

Korea, a $50 gift certificate to Dillard’s or

Macy’s makes a better gift for a Korean than

a $50 one to Wal-Mart. Also, if for a Korean

friend in the US, unless you are sure they

like American food, you may want to steer

clear of restaurant gift certificates.

9. Stickers/$2 Bills

All kids LOVE stickers. And stickers from

overseas that they can’t get back home will

bring a ton of enjoyment to the young

children of your business associates and

friends overseas. You can never go wrong

giving a couple sheets of stickers that you

brought from home to a child in Korea.

Looking for a less expensive way to please

older kids? This is a neat little tip that

entails a special trip to your bank at home,

but it ensures that your gift-giving stays

affordable. Older kids are tickled to get a

4 | Page

$2 bill from you, especially when you tell

them that some people say it brings good

luck. They might even frame it and put it on

their wall! In fact, we’ve had tremendous

“success” giving $2 bills. Recipients come

back asking for more.

10. Souvenir from Place

Visited

If you work at a Korean company and you

take a business trip anywhere, you’d be

remiss to come back with your hands empty.

Cheap trinkets from your destination will be

appreciated very much and you really don’t

need to bring back much. I recall a boss of

mine at in Korea who returned from China

with “gifts” for the team that I doubt cost

him more than $10 for everything. That was

tacky though and you should do better than

this.

Bonus Gift Ideas

Novelty Gift #1 – UNDERWEAR

When the son or daughter of a friend gets a new job and receives his/her first paycheck, it is

common practice to give underwear to the parents! If this seems a bit odd, a set of pajamas

would also be fine.

Novelty Gift #2 – SOCKS

Socks are considered a respectable gift for many occasions. I’ve never quite figured out why,

but if you give socks, you’ll get a laugh and the recipient may compliment you on your

cultural insight!

Novelty Gift #3 – TAFFY

Give taffy to a student on the day of his/her test. The stickiness of the candy is supposed to

help with answer retention (think answers sticking to one’s brain).

Novelty Gift #4 – BABY SHOES

If you’re a woman and a female friend of yours gets pregnant, you should buy her some baby

shoes as soon as you hear the news. You don’t have to wait until the baby is due. (When the

baby is born, another gift of baby products would also be appropriate.)

5 | Page

To Wrap or Not to Wrap

It would generally not be necessary to wrap a gift that you have put special thought into and

picked out from home. However, when giving less personal gifts such as a bottle of liquor, you

should wrap it. This helps to give a sense of thoughtfulness to an otherwise ordinary gift item.

No matter where you purchase your gift (department store, convenience store, airplane), you

can ask for gift-wrapping. In some cases, gifts will already have been pre-packaged and made

ready for giving.

About Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc.

Korean Consulting & Translation Services, Inc. (www.koreanconsulting.com) is a premier

provider of Korean translation services to clients around the world but primarily to N.

American companies, government agencies and educational institutions. The company also

offers a range of higher-value consulting and business services.

About Steven S. Bammel

A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington (College of Business

Administration), Steven S. Bammel worked in Seoul for nearly five

years as an employee of the LG Group of South Korea. During that

time, he promoted international business for several Korean

companies and edited/translated hundreds of documents. He also

learned about Korean business practices from the inside.

For several years, Steven, his wife Myunghee and two children

Treasure and Cauvery, shared their time between Irving, Texas and the company’s corporate

quarters near Seoul, Korea but have recently returned to Korea while Steven studies at the

Graduate School of Business Administration at Hanyang University and further develops his

unique Korean business perspective.

Steven can be reached most conveniently by email to sbammel@koreanconsulting.com