Cash or flowers? Parents’ Day becomes balancing act for Koreans in US

SEATTLE — When Parents' Day approaches in Korea, many adult children do not spend days searching for the perfect gift. They open their banking app. For Korean families, sending money to parents on May 8 is not seen as impersonal. It can be practical, respectful and familiar, a way to say thank you with support that parents can actually use. A recent survey of 2,000 adults in Korea by Lotte Members, the membership and data unit of retail giant Lotte Group, found cash was both the gift parents most wanted for Parent’s Day and the gift adult children most wanted to give. About 70.8 percent of respondents picked cash as the gift they wanted to receive, while 83.9 percent chose it as the gift they wanted to give. For Koreans in the U.S., that tradition can travel across time zones. Instead of handing over a cash envelope after dinner, they may send a wire transfer, followed by a text message or a late-night phone call. “In Korea, giving cash is just the easiest way to show you care,” said Grace Lee, 42, who regularly sends money to her parents in Seoul. “Here, it feels a little diff

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