How do Koreans drink soju?

Every Korean knows this sequence. Until it was drawn and numbered as an illustrated series, no one had written it down — which is why visitors so often report that Korean drinking felt like a game whose rules everyone else already knew.

The ten steps

1. Seating (앉기)Where people sit is the first rule, not a detail. The most senior person takes the seat furthest from the door; the most junior sits nearest it and nearest the bottle, because pouring is their job. Getting this wrong reorders the whole table.
2. Holding (잡기)Take the bottle by the body, not the neck, with the label turned towards the person you are about to serve. The left hand supports the right — either under the forearm or against the base of the bottle. A one-handed pour to someone senior reads as carelessness.
3. Opening (따기)The opening is a small performance. The bottle is spun or struck to settle it, the cap is twisted, and the thin metal tail left on the cap is flicked away with a fingernail. The flick is not functional; it is the sound that tells the table that drinking has begun.
4. Offering (권하기)You never pour your own first glass. You offer — glass held in both hands, presented towards the senior person — and wait to be filled. Offering, not pouring, is the act that opens the meal.
5. Pouring (따르기)Fill the glass generously but not to overflowing, keeping the label visible and both hands engaged. Pour for others before yourself, always, and never top up a glass that still has soju in it.
6. Gripping (쥐기)The receiver's hands matter as much as the pourer's. Hold the glass in the right hand with the left hand touching the right wrist or the base of the glass. Two hands means respect; one hand between equals is fine and between generations is not.
7. Receiving (받기)Receive with both hands and a slight bow of the head. Refusing a poured glass outright is awkward, but you are entitled to accept it and leave it untouched — the glass is the greeting, not the obligation.
8. Clinking (건배)Make eye contact, then lower your glass so its rim sits below the rim of the senior person's glass before they meet. If you are too far away to reach, raise the glass or tap it once on the table instead. The usual calls are 건배 (geonbae), 짠 (jjan) for the sound itself, and 위하여 (wihayeo) at formal tables.
9. Drinking (마시기)Turn your head and shoulders away from the most senior person as you drink, so that you are not drinking in their face. The first glass is often emptied in one; after that, pace is yours.
10. Placing (놓기)Set the glass down deliberately and within reach, where the table can see whether it is empty. An empty glass left in view is an invitation to be filled again; a glass kept covered or held is a polite signal that you are finished.

The two rules that carry the rest

If you remember nothing else, remember these. You do not pour for yourself. The glass in front of you is filled by someone else, and yours is the hand that fills theirs — which means the table can only drink by paying attention to each other. And you use two hands across a difference in age or rank, whether you are pouring or receiving. Everything else in the sequence is an elaboration of those two.

What happens if you get it wrong

Nothing. A visitor who pours with one hand or forgets to turn away will be corrected cheerfully, or more likely not corrected at all. The sequence is not an examination — Koreans are, in practice, delighted when a foreign guest attempts it and unbothered when they do not. It matters here because it is describable, and because a culture whose rules are written down can be taught, translated, exhibited and enjoyed rather than merely survived.

Where the sequence comes from

The ten steps are not an official code. They are a documented observation — the sequence distilled from more than a decade of field research at Korean tables by FUNNYJUN and published as the illustrated series 10 Steps: HOW TO DRINK SOJU Like a Korean, which has since been exhibited in ten cities across seven countries. The association publishes it as the reference sequence because it is the only complete written account of the practice that exists in English.