If you rent an apartment in Korea, buy a used car, or hand over a large deposit, someone may pay you with a piece of paper instead of a bank transfer. It is called a 자기앞수표 (jagi-ap supyo) , a cashier's check issued by a bank. Most guides stop…
If you take prescription medication and you are flying to Korea, there are two very different sets of rules, and which one applies to you decides whether you can simply pack your pills or whether you need government approval ten days before you fly.…
On 1 September the Korean cabinet approved a package of measures for Chuseok. Most coverage of it was aimed at Korean households doing their holiday shopping, so the parts that matter to someone visiting or living here got buried. I read the annou…
If you work in Korea, three of your four social insurances have a chapter about you. Health insurance has Article 109. The national pension has Article 126, with a reciprocity clause attached. Employment insurance has Article 10-2, and it treats you…
If you work in Korea on a visa and your job ends, one question comes up fast: can I claim unemployment benefits? The answer is not a simple yes or no. Foreign workers in Korea are covered by the Employment Insurance Act, but how they are covered …
If you are planning a trip to Korea this September, there is one week you need to know about. Chuseok falls on Friday, 25 September 2026 , and the holiday runs from Thursday 24 through Sunday 27. Chuseok is Korea's harvest festival, often desc…
You landed in Korea with a valid licence from home and an International Driving Permit in your bag. You rented a car, drove to Gangneung, nothing happened. So the licence works, right? For twelve months, yes. After that the same drive is a crimina…