Dating in Korea: Gen Z divides exact costs to prevent relationship burdens

Young Koreans say exact bill-splitting, or 1/N, is a way to keep relationships fair and free of debt. In dating, participants said attitudes matter more than strict 50-50 math, and some prefer paying in turns or using a dating account. Others said large shared expenses, such as travel, are easier to handle when amounts are matched or pooled. The discussion was translated from a Hankook Ilbo article and edited by The Korea Times.

Participant 1 said that in a recent gathering at a Japanese-style pub, they used an Excel spreadsheet to split the bill by arrival time and by what each person ordered.

Participant 4 said that the new 1/N approach is widespread among young people and excludes people who did not drink or who joined later in the night from costs they did not incur.

Participant 2 said a trip can cost from a few hundred thousand won to 1 million won, making travel a financial burden for dating couples.

Participant 5 said that one friend and her boyfriend have used a dating account for years, and it has become a shared pot for trips and other dates.

Published Sep 18, 2026 12:01 am KST

Young Koreans embrace strict bill splitting, joint dating accounts to prevent awkward financial burdens

An image generated by ChatGPT

To an older generation that used to argue over the check, each insisting on paying for the group, Gen Z's habit of "1/N" — or splitting a bill and increasingly paying only for what you personally ordered — looks unfamiliar and hard-hearted.

For young Koreans, settling the exact amount shows consideration and reason in their own way, as they refuse to leave the table owing anyone anything. It goes further than etiquette. It is an attempt to secure fairness and equity at the very foundation of human relationships.

Korea Times illustration by Shin Dong-jun

1/N: Way to protect relationships

Participant 6: "For the older generation, if five friends met, one would pay today and someone else would pay next time. Even without settling every time, over the long run, it came to roughly a fifth each. So I think it is why the older generation sees today's split-it-right-now approach as lacking human warmth."

Participant 5: "Older people might see it that way, but our generation has always done it like this. If you meet enough times, everyone probably ends up paying about the same, but isn't it much cleaner to just finish it there and then? I don't want to leave things open-ended or feel like I owe someone next time."

Participant 1: "I settle the bill exactly when I'm out with friends too. Recently we had a gathering at a Japanese-style pub a friend had just opened. People didn't all show up at once — some were there from the start, others came late, so the food and drinks each person had were different. I paid the whole bill first, then used an Excel spreadsheet to break it down by arrival time and by what was ordered, so everyone paid only for what they ate. It's not a simple headcount split. It's the 'new 1/N,' dividing by what you consumed."

Participant 3: "In my case, some of my groups use an app to split what each person spent."

Participant 4: "The 'new 1/N' is actually pretty widespread now. You don't tell someone who didn't drink to pay an equal share of the alcohol, and you don't make someone who joined at the third round of the night cover costs from the first. That kind of thing is a burden, so we leave them out. It's consideration, just unspoken."

Participant 7: "But friends can buy one extra round now and then, can't they? Why do you think the closer you are, the more strictly you have to settle?"

Participant 4: "Not doing 1/N can actually create a more calculating dynamic. A friend buys something worth 20,000 won ($13.56) this time, and then you're sitting there wondering whether it's fine to buy a 10,000 won item next time or whether you have to match the 20,000. If you divide it fairly on the spot, no awkwardness and no hard feelings is left over. I think it's the more practical way to keep a relationship going."

Splitting dating costs 50-50? Attitude matters most

Participant 7: "1/N seems to have become routine in ordinary relationships for young people, but in romance, there's also the question of how much you feel for someone. What do you all think about opening a 'dating account,' a joint account a couple pays into for dating expenses?"

An image generated by Gemini

Participant 1: "If the other person asked for it, I wouldn't try to stop them, but I don't think I'd propose it myself. I know a man and a woman who each use a dating account, and both said there were advantages. You have a budget, so you spend less, and because you're spending money you both put in, there's less of a feeling that one side is constantly being treated. Still, even in our generation, a date account feels a little cold, I think. Not many of my friends seem to do it."

Participant 5: "I've never split every cost down the middle while dating. I pay when I want to pay for them, and they pay when they want to pay for me — isn't that enough? Breaking down even a casual date item by item feels like a business transaction. For big expenses like travel, though, we agreed to match amounts and it came out close to half and half. One trip can run from a few hundred thousand won to 1 million won, so that's a financial burden."

Participant 2: "I'm not a fan of splitting everything 50-50 either. Adjusting the amounts as you go, one person paying this time and the other next, or setting up a date account from the start — I think either is fine. And a date account isn't really about avoiding spending on your partner. It's more about saving. You might be at the stage where you've just entered the workforce and need to put money away. The amounts you each deposit don't have to be identical, either. You factor in income and family circumstances and set it by the ratio of what each of you actually has left over."

Participant 5: "I wasn't sold on date accounts originally. But I have one friend who's been using one for years. Her boyfriend was more comfortable financially and kept paying every time they met, so she started to feel the burden. She wanted to do something too, but he always offered first, so she was the one who proposed opening an account, just so she could pay her share fairly. I heard he said, 'Do we really have to?' at first. After a few years of using it, though, it turned out convenient as a shared pot for trips and easy to draw on for all kinds of dates, and now I'm told they both feel good about it."

Participant 6: "In the end, though, isn't it still the man paying more in a relationship?"

Participant 2: "I think there's an underlying social expectation that the man pays more when you're dating. There used to be a wage gap, and there was a strong sense that the man was the head of the household, responsible for the family, while the woman supported him at home. So I wonder whether women's reluctance about date accounts today is partly a cultural holdover from that era. With 50-50 or a date account, a woman might feel she's the one paying more, or feel that her partner doesn't love her."

Participant 1: "That's mostly how it is. I haven't seen many friends who have a real problem with the man paying a bit more. What matters is whether the other person takes it for granted. Some of my friends watch what they call the 'payment attitude' — if I bought the meal, the other person says, 'I'll get the coffee.' They're not asking for an exact half. They want the feeling that this person is taking part in the date too. When I was dating, I generally paid more. If anything, I felt bad when my girlfriend paid more. I think paying myself was just easier on me than carrying that guilty feeling."

Participant 2: "This applies to everything, not just money, but treating a favor as an entitlement is where the problem starts. Paying more isn't the real issue. The worst of it is when you find yourself thinking, 'This person is only seeing me because of my money.'"

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.

韩国年轻人认为，精确的账单平分（1/N）是保持关系公平、避免债务的一种方式。在约会方面，受访者表示，态度比严格的五五分成更重要，有些人更喜欢轮流付款或使用约会账户。另一些人则表示，对于旅行等大额共同支出，如果双方金额相等或集中支付，则更容易应对。本文由《韩国日报》文章翻译，并经《韩国时报》编辑。

参与者 1 表示，在最近一次于日式酒吧的聚会中，他们使用 Excel 表格按到达时间和每个人点的菜品来分摊账单。

参与者 4 表示，新的 1/N 方法在年轻人中很普遍，它将没有喝酒的人或晚上晚些时候加入的人排除在他们没有产生的费用之外。

参与者 2 表示，一次旅行可能花费几十万韩元到 100 万韩元不等，这使得旅行成为情侣约会的经济负担。

参与者 5 表示，她的一位朋友和她的男朋友多年来一直使用约会账号，这个账号已经成为他们旅行和其他约会的共同资金来源。

发布于2026年9月18日凌晨12:01（韩国标准时间）

韩国年轻人奉行严格的账单分摊制度，并使用联名约会账户来避免尴尬的经济负担。

由 ChatGPT 生成的图像

对于过去常常为了结账而争吵，每个人都坚持要为团体买单的老一辈人来说，Z 世代的“1/N”（即AA制，即AA制，并且越来越倾向于只为自己点的东西付费）的习惯看起来既陌生又冷酷无情。

对韩国年轻人来说，结账时准确地支付金额，体现了他们独特的体贴和理性，因为他们绝不允许自己欠任何人钱。这超越了礼仪的范畴，更是一种在人际关系的基石上维护公平正义的尝试。

《韩国时报》插图，作者：申东俊

1/N：保护关系的方法

参与者6：“对于老一辈人来说，如果五个朋友聚会，今天一个人付钱，下次另一个人付。即使不是每次都平分，长远来看，每个人也差不多能分到五分之一。所以我认为，这就是为什么老一辈人觉得现在这种立刻平分的方式缺乏人情味。”

参与者5：“老年人可能会这么想，但我们这代人一直都是这么做的。如果见面次数足够多，大家最终可能付的钱都差不多，但当场解决不是更干净利落吗？我不想留下悬而未决的问题，也不想下次还欠别人一个人情。”

参与者1：“我和朋友出去吃饭的时候也会直接结账。最近我们在一个朋友刚开的日式酒吧聚会。大家不是同时到的——有些人一开始就到了，有些人来得晚，所以每个人点的菜和饮料都不一样。我先付了全部账单，然后用Excel表格按到达时间和点的菜品做了分类，这样每个人就只付了自己吃的东西。这不是简单的人数均摊，而是‘新式1/N’，也就是按消费额除以总金额。”

参与者 3：“就我而言，我的一些小组使用应用程序来分摊每个人的花费。”

参与者4：“‘新1/N’模式现在其实很普遍。你不会让没喝酒的人付一半的酒钱，也不会让第三轮才加入的人承担第一轮的费用。这种做法会给别人增加负担，所以我们都省略了。这是一种默契，只是没有明说。”

参与者7：“但是朋友偶尔多请一轮酒是可以的，对吧？你觉得为什么关系越亲近，就越要严格遵守约定呢？”

参与者4：“不采用1/N的分配方式，实际上可能会造成一种更精于算计的局面。比如，朋友这次买了价值2万韩元（约13.56美元）的东西，你就会纠结下次是买1万韩元的合适，还是必须也买2万。如果当场公平分配，就不会有尴尬和芥蒂。我认为这才是维系友谊更实际的方式。”

约会费用五五分摊？态度最重要

参与者7：“1/N似乎已经成为年轻人普通恋爱关系中的惯例，但在恋爱关系中，还涉及到你对对方的感情有多深。大家觉得开设一个‘约会账户’怎么样？就是情侣共同出资用于约会开支的账户？”

由双子座生成的图像

参与者1：“如果对方主动提出，我不会阻止，但我自己不会主动提出。我认识一男一女都在用约会账号，他们都说有好处。有预算的话，花钱就少了，而且因为是双方共同投入的钱，所以不会感觉好像总有一方占便宜。不过，即使在我们这一代，我觉得用约会账号还是有点冷冰冰的。我的朋友里好像没几个用。”

参与者5：“我约会的时候从来不会AA制。我想付钱就付，他们想付钱就付——这样还不够吗？即使是普通的约会，逐项计算费用也感觉像在做生意。不过，像旅行这种大额开销，我们会商量好各付一半，最后差不多是五五开。一次旅行可能要花几十万到一百万韩元，所以也是一笔不小的开支。”

参与者2：“我也不太喜欢五五分成。我觉得可以根据情况调整金额，比如这次由一个人付，下次由另一个人付，或者一开始就设立一个约会账户——这两种方式都行。约会账户的真正意义不在于避免在伴侣身上花钱，而在于储蓄。你可能刚开始工作，需要存点钱。你们每个人存的金额也不必完全相同。你们要考虑收入和家庭情况，根据各自实际剩余的钱来设定比例。”

参与者5：“我一开始并不看好约会账户。但我有个朋友已经用了好几年了。她男朋友经济条件比较好，每次见面都付钱，所以她开始觉得负担很重。她也想做点什么，但他总是先付，所以就由她主动提出开个账户，这样她就能公平地支付自己那份了。我听说他一开始还说‘我们真的非得这样吗？’。不过，用了几年之后，发现它很方便，可以作为旅行的共享资金，而且各种约会都能轻松使用，现在我听说他们俩都觉得这样挺好。”

参与者 6：“但归根结底，在一段关系中，付出更多难道不是男人吗？”

参与者2：“我认为社会上存在一种潜在的期望，那就是约会时男性应该支付更多。过去男女收入差距很大，人们普遍认为男性是一家之主，要对家庭负责，而女性则在家支持他。所以我怀疑，如今女性不愿使用约会账户，是否部分源于那个时代的文化遗留。如果双方各付一半或者使用约会账户，女性可能会觉得自己付得更多，或者觉得伴侣不爱自己。”

参与者1：“大多数情况下都是这样。我没见过几个朋友真的介意男士多付一点。关键在于对方是否觉得这是理所当然的。我有些朋友会留意所谓的‘付款态度’——如果我请客吃饭，对方会说‘我来请咖啡’。他们并不是要求对方付一半。他们希望对方也能参与到约会中来。我以前约会的时候，通常都是我付更多。如果女朋友付更多，我反而会觉得不好意思。我觉得与其背负这种愧疚感，不如自己付钱来得轻松。”

参与者2：“这适用于所有事情，不仅仅是金钱，但把别人的恩惠当作理所当然才是问题的根源。多付钱并不是真正的问题所在。最糟糕的是，你会发现自己心里想着，‘这个人只是因为我的钱才来找我。’”

本文来自《韩国日报》（《韩国时报》的姊妹报），由人工智能生成系统翻译，并由《韩国时报》编辑。