Typical Working Hours in South Korea

Standard office hours in South Korea run 9:00–18:00, averaging 44 hours per week. Below you'll find scheduling tips, timezone context, and a live overlap planner with London.

• Hierarchy is deeply embedded — decisions flow top-down and deference to senior colleagues is expected.
• Long working hours are still common, though Korea's 52-hour weekly cap (since 2018) is improving work-life balance.
• Chuseok (mid-autumn harvest festival) and Lunar New Year create multi-day office closures.
• Email and KakaoTalk (messaging app) are both widely used; KakaoTalk may be used outside office hours.
• Seoul is UTC+9, making it 9 hours ahead of London (BST) and 14 hours ahead of New York (EST).

Other Countries