Soju and Beer Prices in Korea 2026: Mart vs Restaurant

Soju is the cheapest thing on a Korean menu that is not free. It is also the item with the biggest gap between what it costs to make and what you pay for it.

The same green bottle can cost 1,340 won at an Emart, 1,800 won at the CU next door, and 6,000 won once it reaches your table at the barbecue restaurant across the street. In Gangnam it can cost 10,000 won or more. None of that is a tourist price. Koreans pay it too, and complain about it constantly. Here is what each channel charges, why, and how to drink well without paying the full restaurant markup.

How much does soju cost in Korean stores?

About 1,340 won at a hypermarket and 1,800 won at a convenience store for a standard 360ml bottle. The Korea Consumer Agency tracks both through 참가격 (Chamgagyeok), its official retail price survey, which checks the same products at the same stores every two weeks.

🛒 Store prices from the Korea Consumer Agency's Chamgagyeok survey, September 2026 (national averages, won)

Three things stand out. Hypermarket soju is priced identically at every store surveyed, 1,340 won from Seoul to Gangneung. Convenience stores cluster around 1,800 to 1,900 won, and the survey’s lowest convenience-store price was 1,500 won. And the six-can beer pack is where the gap between channels is widest in absolute terms: about 5,000 won between a hypermarket and a convenience store at list price, before the promotions discussed below.

Convenience-store list prices matter less than they look, because Korean convenience stores almost always have a multi-buy running on beer. During the 2026 Chuseok holiday, for example, the Korea Economic Daily reported CU selling a 24-can box of 500ml Cass for 52,800 won, and CU and 7-Eleven selling a 20-bottle soju box for 25,900 won, about 1,295 won a bottle. Those deals change every month, so treat them as examples of the pattern, not prices to rely on.

How much does soju cost in a Seoul restaurant or bar?

Usually 5,000 to 7,000 won a bottle at an ordinary Seoul restaurant, and more in upmarket districts. There is no official survey of restaurant soju prices, so these figures come from Korean press reporting rather than government data.

In December 2025, Energy Economy News checked menus around Seoul and found soju at 6,000 won in an Euljiro fishcake bar, 8,000 won around Gwanghwamun, 10,000 won in a Japanese restaurant in Apgujeong and 12,000 won in Yeoksam-dong, against 1,900 won at a convenience store. Domestic bottled beer is usually priced the same as soju on the same menu.

That last number is the surprise. Restaurant soju prices in Korea have actually been falling. Statistics Korea’s consumer price index includes separate items for 소주(외식), soju bought when eating out, and 맥주(외식), beer bought when eating out. In Seoul, the restaurant-soju item fell 2.4% over 2025 as a whole, according to the city’s annual price report. Nationally, restaurant soju fell 1.3% year on year in March 2025, its seventh straight monthly decline since September 2024, and restaurant beer fell 0.7%, as the Korea Economic Daily reported from Statistics Korea data. Before this run, restaurant soju had fallen only once since 2000.

The reason was the economy, not generosity. With fewer customers coming in, many restaurants started advertising cheap soju and beer to fill tables, some at 2,000 to 3,000 won a bottle, while keeping food prices where they were. The index started rising again later in 2025. Energy Economy News, citing national data, reported restaurant soju up 0.8% and restaurant beer up 1.2% year on year in autumn 2025.

What about draft beer, pocha and hotel bars?

🍺 What a drink typically costs by venue in Seoul, 2025–2026 (store prices official; venue prices reported or indicative)

Draft beer in a 호프 (hof) is sold by the 500cc glass. Korean press coverage in August 2026 described 4,000 to 5,000 won as the level office workers regard as normal. That price may move in 2027. Since 2020, draft beer served from kegs of 8 litres or more has had a 20% liquor-tax reduction, 708,500 won per kilolitre against 885,700 won for other beer. The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced in August 2026 that the reduction would end on 31 December 2026. A bill to make it permanent was filed the same week, so as of September 2026 the outcome is still open. The tax difference works out to only about 130 won per 500cc glass once education tax and VAT are included, but Korean industry sources have warned that bars could raise prices by 500 to 1,000 won.

Hotel prices are the one place we will not quote a number, because they vary too much by property. If you are drinking at a hotel, remember that Korean hotel menus often show prices before the service charge and VAT are added.

Why is restaurant soju marked up so much?

Partly because the law keeps restaurants out of the cheap supply chain, and partly because alcohol pays the rent.

The government has tried twice to break this pattern. The first attempt was a tax change. Before 2024, domestic spirits were taxed on the factory price, which included sales and marketing costs, while imported spirits were taxed on the lower import price. From 1 January 2024 the National Tax Service introduced a 기준판매비율 (standard sales ratio), which removes a set share of the price before tax is calculated. The ratios are reviewed every two years. Beer is taxed by volume, not by price, so it is not affected.

🧾 Standard sales ratios for distilled spirits (share deducted before liquor tax)

In 2024 the effect on soju was a 10.6% cut in the factory price. Chamisul Fresh went from 1,247 won to 1,115 won, a saving of 132 won. Lotte Chilsung’s Cheoeumcheoreom fell 4.5% and Saero 2.7%. Convenience stores followed at the start of January 2024, and most 360ml bottles settled at 1,900 won, with Chamisul down from 2,100 won. Restaurants mostly did not follow. Hite Jinro had raised factory prices by 6.95% only two months earlier, in November 2023, so part of the saving had already disappeared. The 2026 increase for soju is only 1.2 percentage points, and the trade press doubted it would show up in bottle prices.

The second attempt was deregulation. Under the old rule, a retailer could not sell liquor below the price it paid, except for stock near expiry or with damaged labels. On 27 July 2023 the National Tax Service issued a formal interpretation (서면-2023-소비-2239) stating that retailers, including restaurants, may sell to consumers below purchase price, unless it is predatory pricing meant to drive out competitors or costs are pushed back onto suppliers. At the time, restaurant owners said almost nobody would do it. Two years later, a slow economy did what the rule change had not, and cheap-soju signs appeared across Seoul.

Which brands will you see, and what is zero-sugar soju?

You will mostly see green bottles from two companies. Hite Jinro, which makes Chamisul and the retro-labelled Jinro, held 59.7% of the soju market in 2023, according to Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation data reported by Newsis. Lotte Chilsung, which makes Cheoeumcheoreom and Saero, held 18%. Regional brands such as Daesun in Busan, Joeunday in Gyeongsang and Hallasan in Jeju fill out the rest; our regional soju map explains why each province has its own.

The main standard-soju strength is now 16%. Hite Jinro cut Chamisul Fresh from 16.5% to 16% in February 2024. Chamisul Original stays at 20.1%.

Saero made “zero sugar” the marketing theme of the early 2020s, and most brands followed. The Korea Consumer Agency tested five zero-sugar soju in 2024. They had no detectable sugar, but regular soju had only about 0.12g per 100ml to begin with. Calories were 2.85% to 13.87% lower than regular soju, and the agency said that was mainly because the zero-sugar versions were 0.5 to 2.6 percentage points weaker in alcohol. In its survey, 68.6% of consumers believed zero-sugar soju was much lower in calories. It is not. Choose it for the taste if you like, not for your diet.

For what Seoul is drinking beyond green bottles, from won soju to highballs, see our piece on what Seoul is drinking now.

How can a traveller drink cheaply in Korea without breaking rules?

Buy from a store when you can, drink at restaurants when the food is the point, and know the few rules that apply to both.

A few more habits keep the bill down. Koreans rarely order a single glass. A bottle of soju pours six to seven shots and is meant to be shared. 소맥 (somaek), soju mixed into beer, uses up both bottles quickly and can double the drinks line on the receipt. And at a barbecue restaurant, alcohol is often the second-biggest item on the bill after the meat. Our samgyeopsal price guide shows the rest of the maths.

If you would rather share tables than save money, hunting pocha are Seoul’s table-joining bars. Drinks there are priced like any other bar.