Holiday Stress on the Rise Among Koreans

The Lunar New Year has arrived.
The entire nation is in a festive mood, with millions of Koreans seeing in the new year with their loved ones, as well as paying respects to their ancestors.
But unfortunately, not everyone is over-the-moon about the big day.

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[Interview : Na Soo-jin, Seoul resident ] "I'm tired of my relatives nagging me about getting married. So I try to avoid family gatherings as much as possible".

[Interview : Lee In-seok, Seoul resident ] "Heavy traffic jams stress me out during the Lunar New Year. It's really tiring to drive".

In fact, according to a survey conducted by one of Korea's largest companies, STX Group on 1-thousand employees, nearly 70-percent said they get stressed out by the holidays.
The three main stress factors were, having to spend large amounts of money, heavy traffic, and having to deal with unwanted questioning from senior relatives on various personal issues.

[Reporter : Han Da-eun daeun@arirang.co.kr ] "Recent studies and surveys show that a great deal of Koreans HAVE experienced the so-called traditional holiday stress. But most would agree, that married Korean women suffer the most during the holidays".

Yoon Myung-sook, a Korean housewife in Gyeonggi Province prepares big family gatherings every year, with great care.
Lunar New Year meals require a lot of time, money and effort, and Yoon says it's really tough when family members are in no situation to help out.

[Interview : Yoon Myung-sook, Housewife ] "All our relatives come to our place to join us during big holidays, so there is a heavy burden on me to prepare all the food. Korean traditional dishes like "Jeon" and "Tteokguk", in particular, take a tremendous amount of effort to prepare".

One study even revealed that holiday stress for an average married Korean woman is as bad as the pain of losing a close friend.
Knowing how bad the stress is now, how about lending a helping hand to your wife or mom this year