Spam A Classy Gift In South Korea

(AP) Seoul, South Korea Spam, the tinned meat so often the subject of ridicule in the United States, is no joke here.

The spiced luncheon meat is considered a luxury item, so nice that 40 percent of the Spam sold is purchased as gifts. Around holidays, the blue-and-yellow cans show up in better stores, often wrapped in boxed sets.

"Spam really is a luxury item," said Han Geun Rae, 43, a fashion buyer, as she loaded gift boxes of Spam into her cart at a department store before the recent Chusok holiday.

An estimated 8 million cans of Spam change hands on Chusok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving.

Han was buying Spam for her employees, and expected to get some herself during the Chusok season, the country's biggest gift-giving occasion of the year.

Read the complete article at WCCO