This Chuseok, Cash Gifts Over Presents... What Is the Appropriate Amount?

On the 19th, officials are supplying Chuseok currency at the Bank of Korea Currency Receiving Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

As Chuseok approaches, more people are preparing cash gifts rather than presents. Many are preparing between 100,000 and 300,000 KRW for their parents.

According to KB Kookmin Card on the 28th, a recent survey of 420 male and female customers nationwide about their plans for the golden holiday period and gift preparations revealed that 91% of respondents planned to prepare cash gifts or presents for Chuseok. Among them, 78% said they would prepare cash gifts.

By amount, 7% of customers said they would give less than 100,000 KRW as cash (cash or gift certificates) to one parent, 74% said between 100,000 and less than 300,000 KRW, 15% said between 300,000 and less than 500,000 KRW, and 4% said more than 500,000 KRW.

For Chuseok gifts, food items were the most common at 77%, followed by cosmetics at 12%, and clothing and accessories at 10%.

Recently, more people are choosing simple money transfers over cash. According to KakaoPay, users sending cash gifts to nephews or grandchildren via simple transfers are increasing. In fact, the number of Chuseok money transfer envelope uses last year increased by 17% compared to the previous year.

Based on KakaoPay’s Chuseok money transfer envelope usage last year, the average cash gift amount was about 70,000 KRW for teenagers, about 100,000 KRW for people in their 20s, and about 150,000 KRW for people in their 30s. For cash gifts given to elders, people in their 20s sent about 170,000 KRW, those in their 30s about 210,000 KRW, and those in their 40s about 230,000 KRW.

Meanwhile, the 50,000 KRW bill has become the dominant choice for cash gifts. It accounts for nearly 90% of the currency in circulation. Currency in circulation refers to the amount of money supplied by the Bank of Korea to the market minus the money withdrawn from circulation.

According to the Bank of Korea, as of the end of August, out of the total currency in circulation of 176.8 trillion KRW, 155.7 trillion KRW was in 50,000 KRW bills. This means 88.1% of the currency in circulation is in 50,000 KRW bills. The amount of 10,000 KRW bills in circulation was 15.6 trillion KRW, accounting for 8.8% of the total currency in circulation, marking a historic low.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.