(Woman 1) I can’t drink, so coming to this show is a nice way to spend time with my co-workers.
(Man 1) We all decided to spend this holiday season in a meaningful way. People in their 50s don’t get to enjoy such cultural events that often, so they all like this atmosphere.
(Man 2) I came here for a year-end party with my co-workers. I personally don’t like alcohol, so I hope we all can enjoy this performance.



The waiting area of KT&G Sangsang Art Hall in the Gangnam district of Seoul is packed with office workers in suits. They are there to see “Rude Miss Young-ae, the Musical,” based on a TV show of the same title, about a fat, single woman struggling to keep her job and meet the man of her dreams.

The audience sees themselves in the characters and empathizes with every word out of their mouths. It’s obvious that these office workers enjoy the show immensely. A typical way for Koreans to celebrate the year-end holiday season is to have company dinners and bar-hop with their office mates. Having to drink night after night is an ordeal for any company employee, but recently such corporate culture has started to change. Instead of eating and drinking, more and more people opt to strengthen their friendship by attending cultural and meaningful events, such as a movie or a musical, together.

Nowadays year-end party trends in Korea are shifting from drinking bouts to culturally enlightening experiences.
As Koreans become more health-conscious and culturally sophisticated, excessive drinking is out and wholesome entertainment is in. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik김헌식 to tell us more.

In general year-end celebrations used to involve lots of drinking. It was meant to forget about all the bad things that happened over the year with drinking. But now a greater percentage of year-end events are cultural ones. That’s because Korea’s male-oriented corporate culture is shifting to a female-oriented one and many more female co-workers take part in year-end parties. Sometimes women are the ones who plan these parties and they tend to include activities they prefer, such as watching cultural performances, and men usually go along with it. Drinking and partying are not completely absent from year-end celebrations, but in more and more get-togethers cultural experiences seem to follow light after-work drinks.

This new trend has led to some amusing coined terms. “119” means “drink only one type of alcohol at one place, and wrap up the get-together before nine o’clock” and “112” is “have one round of drink with one type of alcohol and end it within two hours.” Many companies in Korea have launched campaigns encouraging sobriety during social affairs. Here’s Mr. Choi Deok-su최덕수 of Korea Midland Power Company, who had organized a cultural outing for his office party.

My company is carrying out a campaign for wholesome company parties. We encourage 119 movement and lunchtime gatherings instead of nighttime ones. Instead of excessive drinking, most celebrations involve going to cultural performances or volunteering in charity events. The company asks for ideas and planning to designate every Thursday as family day to allow employees to go home early to spend time with their families. I believe corporate parties should change this way.

Sensing a big change in corporate year-end parties, the performing arts industry has set up a cultural coordinator system to provide various services to those businesses looking to share cultural experiences during this holiday season. Here’s Mr. Jeon Jin-oh전진오 from the “Rude Miss Young-ae” production team.

A cultural coordinator provides almost all services concerning cultural dinners. If a corporate team contacts us about seeing our musical, we not only make group reservations for that whole team but also provide a meal after the show. In today’s corporate world, human resources offices subsidize team dinners to promote wholesome party culture. Even employees tend to prefer new events like this, because they are pretty tired of eating and drinking at work-related gatherings, especially around this time of the year. So this cultural service was launched to meet those rising demands.

Just making a simple phone call gets you reservations for the show as well as a group meal afterward. This is a perfect solution for those office workers who are out of ideas about where and how to celebrate the holidays.

It’s not easy choosing a performance since everyone has a different taste, but the most popular performing arts genre is musical theatre. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik again.

Musicals are leading the trend because they have both visual and audio elements that satisfy our eyes and ears. Opera is too unfamiliar and classical music does not appeal to the masses, but a musical has both mass appeal and artistry, the combination of which draws huge crowds. Also it’s culturally very satisfying for the money, which is why it’s so popular as an option for year-end parties.

Culture critic Kim Heon-shik also adds that people tend to prefer musicals with uplifting and entertaining stories or those that have gotten good reviews.



Even if you had a really depressing year, you want the coming year to be better and hopeful. This is why musicals have to be fun. For year-end parties people also want to see grand productions that have proven their ticketing power and have satisfied both the critics and the public.

It would be even better if the musical also contained office situations that desk workers can identify with, which is why “Rude Miss Young-ae” is the hottest ticket among office workers now. Here’s Mr. Jeon Jin-oh of the “Rude Miss Young-ae” production team.

This is an office musical, something that’s never been tried before. Office workers understand the situations portrayed in the musical and the humor in it helps them forget about their daily troubles at work. Young-ae is a single woman in her mid-30s and she doesn’t look all that pretty, but she lives her life as best as she can. Her bosses are annoying and her female co-worker is conniving, but she has her best friend, a divorcee and office mate, to talk to and that new guy at work is awfully cute. These six characters in her office bicker every day, but at the end of the day they realize that their co-workers are like family.

The musical features characters that really do exist in almost every office: micro-managing bosses; a young co-worker who uses her looks and charm to weasel her way out of work; a naïve yet hunky newbie; and a best friend who provides sole comfort. And then there is Young-ae, whose plain appearance and age, work against her at work and in her love life.



Misunderstanding and feuds ensue, but sincerity dispels all conflicts. At the end they reconcile and genuinely care for one another. Such ups and downs at work are what white collar workers experience every day and empathize with.

The audience feels de-stressed and relieved at seeing how Young-ae survives the tough workplace. They feel as though they’re watching themselves on the stage.

(Woman 1) I totally agree with all the episodes in the show. This is a great way to look at myself, better than spending money on drinking.
(Man 1) It was a great way to wrap up the year. Some male workers may feel unsatisfied, but it was nice that we were able to spend time with our female co-workers.
(Man 2) It was wonderful and so heart-warming. Both the managers and low-level workers had a great time.


The “Rude Miss Young-ae” production team planned another special event for the audience.

The production team planned a truth-or-dare time for the audience. It is a chance for everyone to gripe about his or her pet peeves and bare one’s heart.

This event is called “Open Your Heart.” Actors read complaints and thank-you notes from audience members on stage. We speak for them on stage, so there is no embarrassment or discomfort among the audience members. Stories are read out loud in a humorous setting so that people end up enjoying it very much.

Everyone enjoys this bare-it-all event because all of them are familiar with the people and situations told on stage.

The best episode of the night is selected and a gift card for a group dinner is awarded.

For Ms. Seong Yu-jin, whose heartfelt message for her customers won the best episode prize, this must have been one of the greatest year-end affairs in her career.

If we have a drinking party, we rarely get to talk to each other. But coming to a performance like this helps me feel more loyal to my office mates. I had a really great time.

Musical “The Great Superstar” is another hot musical drawing huge crowds of office workers. The musical helps them remember their long-forgotten dreams.

Combining the elements of musical and concert, “The Great Superstar” is an all-around performance. The audience musters up the courage to face another year by watching the main character reaching for his dream despite all the difficulties.

Watching the characters following their dreams made me think about my own dreams. I felt unsatisfied after just eating and drinking at company dinners, but this time I got to talk to my co-workers about the story and it was actually very comforting and satisfying.

As more and more company workers seek more meaningful ways to celebrate the holidays, going to cultural events together is soon to become an essential part of year-end parties, instead of just partying and drinking.