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Sales of ready-made meals-for-one are on the increase in South Korea as locals conquer a deeply ingrained cultural fear of dining alone.

According to figures recently published by the government's Statistics Korea organisation, consumption of instant rice and single-serve lunches is bucking the national trend which shows rice consumption to be on the decline, reports.

That's down to more people taking up the "honbap" (eating alone) habit, a Statistics Korea official says, a habit that has - until recently - been seen as taboo in South Korean society.

Writing in 2016, Chang May Choon of Singapore's explained that solo dining goes against Koreans' pressing need to belong to a group and not be ostracised.

"What they fear is losing their chaemyon (reputation) if people think of them as a wangda (loner), and that's a big taboo," Ms Chang said.

'Social outcast'

One solo diner (who, tellingly, asked not to have his real name published) told that he gets self-conscious when he eats alone in public, thinking others may judge him as a "social outcast."

"I think there is still this public notion that if you are eating alone, there must be something wrong with your social life," he told the paper in a 2016 interview.

But a big increase in one-person households and a culture that increasingly emphasises "me time" is driving the change, reports.

And the taboo-breaking trend is becoming so widespread that even high-end restaurants are increasing their tables for one, MBN says, noting there's even a which recommends solo-friendly restaurants.

Reporting by Tae-jun Kang, Alistair Coleman

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