Korea, explained from the source. Visas, entry and working in Korea, plus the festivals and events worth planning a trip around. Not press summaries: we read the official notices, the law and the public records ourselves, and we say what we could not verify.
Image generated with ChatGPT for illustration purposes. Paying more than the board says is one of the oldest complaints visitors bring home from Korea, and in 2026 the government changed the penalty for restaurants. Since September 1, an eatery, café or bakery that has no visible price list, or that takes more money than its own list shows, is closed for five days the first time inspectors confirm it. A repeat costs ten days and a third case twenty. Before the change, a first case ended with an order to fix the problem and nothing more. The step comes from a broader package announced on February 25 at a national tourism meeting. That plan also promised seasonal price caps declared in advance by hotels and guesthouses, faster license suspensions for taxi drivers who overcharge, and removal from gift-voucher schemes for businesses that are penalised. On the pages I checked on October 31, only the restaurant rule had actually been written into law; the others were still listed as plans....
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Korea Minimum Wage 2027: ₩10,700/Hour, ₩2.24M a Month
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Image generated with ChatGPT for illustration purposes.
From January 1, 2027, no employer in Korea may pay less than 10,700 won an hour. The Ministry of Employment and Labor fixed the figure in its final notice of August 5, 2026, after the Minimum Wage Commission voted in July. That is 380 won, or 3.7 percent, more than the 10,320 won in force this year, and it covers every industry at a single rate. Foreign employees are not a separate category. The commission's own English page says the floor applies regardless of nationality, and that includes part-timers, day labourers and temporary staff.
The monthly number most job ads quote is 2,236,300 won. It assumes a 40-hour week plus the 8 paid hours of the weekly rest day, which comes to 209 hours a month. A full eight-hour day is worth 85,600 won, and twelve months at the floor add up to just over 26.8 million won before tax and payroll deductions. An employer may pay someone on probation with a contract of a year or more 90 percent for the first three months, or 9,630 won an hour, but that cut is not allowed in jobs the ministry lists as simple labour.
Two details catch foreign workers out. Since 2024 every regular monthly bonus and every welfare allowance paid in cash each month counts toward the minimum, so a low base wage padded with meal money can still be legal. And the old national caps on deductions for employer-provided housing and meals no longer exist: the ministry withdrew that guideline in November 2023, and each regional labour office now publishes its own housing cost guide, with food charged at actual cost and written consent in the worker's own language.
Students on a D-2 visa are covered too, but how many hours they may work during term depends on their course and Korean level. The full guide on Hello Korea Playground puts the 2026 and 2027 figures side by side, works out weekly pay for each student hour cap, lists the probation rules and the penalty for underpaying, and gives the phone lines that take calls in English, including the 1350 labour centre and the 1577-0071 foreign workers' line. Each figure links to the ministry notice or the law it comes from, and the page says plainly which questions it leaves to your contract or to the local labour office, such as your take-home pay or the housing charge in your area.
AI 일러스트 · AI-generated illustration (background scene, not the museum's real gallery). Card facts: museum.go.kr Image generated with Canva Magic Media (background scene) for illustration purposes. Last checked: 2026-10-26 · Sources: NMK viewing hours · NMK reservations and ticketing · Notice of closures, Aug 26, 2026 · Central Asia Gallery closure notice · Directions · Parking · National Museum of Korea, English home and exhibition list · Current exhibitions (Korean) · Upcoming special exhibitions (Korean) · Kunsthaus Zürich exhibition page (Korean) · What changed recently: The Korean Table closed on Sunday, October 25, after three free days; it no longer appears on the museum's current-exhibitions list. The next paid show is Birth of Modern Art from the Kunsthaus Zürich collection, November 27, 2026 to April 18, 2027, with early-bird tickets at 12,000 won on sale since October 13. The Dunhuang manuscripts opened in the Central Asia Gallery on October 23.
AI 일러스트 · AI-generated illustration (background scene). Card facts: hangeul.go.kr · much.go.kr · sejongpac.or.kr Image generated with Canva Magic Media (background scene) for illustration purposes. Last checked: 2026-10-21 (exhibition page, host museum and Sejong Story page opened again) · Sources: Ministry of Culture, October 6 press release on the ceremony · National Hangeul Museum, Hangul Hanmadang notice · National Hangeul Museum, closure notice · National Hangeul Museum, 2026 Year of Hangeul · 100th-anniversary exhibition page · National Museum of Korean Contemporary History · Sejong Center, Sejong Story visitor information · Ministry of the Interior, 2025 Hangul Day ceremony notice · Gwanghwamun Square event calendar · Korea AeroSpace Administration, 2026 calendar notice · What changed recently: the exhibition opened on October 2 and its page still gives February 9, 2027 as the last day, with the same hours and closure days; this update adds the page's rule that...
Image generated with Gemini 3.1 Flash Image for illustration purposes. Last checked: 2026-10-24 (KST) · Sources: AREX press release on the extra express runs, posted Oct 21, 2026 · AREX express timetable · AREX delay notice, Oct 14, 2026 · Incheon Airport Seoul late-night bus page · What changed recently: from Thursday, October 23 the non-stop express between Incheon Airport and Seoul Station runs 56 times a day instead of 52, with the extra trains placed between 11:00 and 18:00. AREX says the all-stop timetable was partly reset to fit them. Separately, AREX has warned since October 14 that all-stop trains may run late during a union work-to-rule action.
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