January 29 is the Lunar New Year 2025, known as seollal 설날 in Korea. A typical seollal celebration involves a sebae 세배, a deep bow by children to their elders to celebrate the new year. In response, the elder gifts a small amount of money, or sebaetdon 세벳돈, for the children to start the new year.
According to an online survey by Nate Q, plurality of the respondents, or 38%, said KRW 50k (USD 35) is an appropriate amount for sebaetdon. But perhaps reflecting the sluggish economy, nearly the same proportion of respondents (36%) said they would prefer to neither give nor receive any money for the lunar new year.
