how do you consume a Korean consommé soup?

[stratford]

So I tried a bulgogi meal at a Korean restaurant. The plate of beef was served with lettuce, rice, and an assortment of banchan dishes which were fun to try, and the whole meal was delicious. Only puzzling part of the dinner was that it also came with a very thin consommé soup which had a sprinkle of a few chopped scallions in it. Is this soup supposed to be drunk from the bowl at intervals throughout the meal, drunk after the meal, or are you supposed to put rice in it or something? I thought I remembered going to a Korean restaurant once a long time ago where the waitress told me to do the latter, but I'm not sure if I remember correctly. Can someone describe how Koreans typically consume this soup?

[hannaone]

There really is no "wrong" way.
If it is an individual serving, one not intended to be shared, then the most common approach is to add some rice to the soup. Another fairly common way is to dip a spoon of rice into the soup.
You can also treat it as a beverage or a stand alone soup dish.
If it is a communal soup, the most common approach is to spoon some into your rice bowl.

[stratford]

Interesting approach. As if to help the rice go down or to give flavor to plain white rice.

[joonjoon]

Like hannaone said, you're free to do whatever you like. I personally starting by dumping large quantities of rice into the soup, but now I prefer the dip approach.

[stratford]

Thanks for reinforcing the concept of rice in soup. Sure I could do whatever I want and put ketchup on my bulgogi. But it helps to get a sense of how something is normally consumed in a culture if you don't have knowledge of the culture's frame of reference.