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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for South Korea

The list of South Korea bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2009, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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21 Aug 2009 (Joong Ang Daily-Seoul) The government of South Korea has finally announced that a state funeral would be held Sunday, August 22, 2009, for the late former President Kim Dae-jung. • 18 Aug 2009 (Yonhap News Agency-Seoul) Following the death of former President Kim Dae-jung, earlier this afternoon, the government of South Korea has announced that a cabinet meeting, tomorrow, Wednesday, would decide as to the format of the funeral. • 10 Jul 2009 (Chosun Ilbo-Seoul) South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance has announced that, together with the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, it would consider implementing compensating day in lieu public holidays when a public holiday falls on a weekend. • 05 Feb 2009 (Chosun-Seoul) South Korea's Astronomy and Space Science Institute confirmed the 2010 dates for the Seol-nal (lunar New Year) and Chuseok (harvest festival) public holidays, with Seol-nal falling on a Sunday. • 09 Dec 2008 (The Korea Times-Seoul) Fifteen lawmakers from South Korea's governing Grand National Party (GNP) have signed up for a bill authored by Representative Yoon Sang-hyun, which would make the Monday following a Sunday public holiday also a public holiday. • 17 Jul 2008 (Chosun) Today, South Korea marks the 60th anniversary of its post-war constitution, and for the first time this national holiday is not a public holiday (ie. it is a regular working day). • 22 Apr 2008 (Chosun) There are reports that many large corporations in South Korea have either given May 2nd, 2008, as a day off, or encouraged their workers to take a day of leave on that day, with the result that one can expect most banks, government services and large corporations to be hard to reach from May 1st to May 5th, 2008, inclusively. • 08 Apr 2008 (AFP and WSMV) The General Elections of tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9, 2008, will be a partial public holiday, in the sense that government offices will be closed, and most businesses will either close, or will give 2-3 hours to its employees to go and vote. • 21 Dec 2006 (Yangjisa Corporation) The next presidential election will occur on December 19, 2007. This will be a partial public holiday. • 24 Oct 2006 (Digital Chosunilbo-Seoul) Korea Observes UN Day. South Korea's independence was largely supported by the UN, which is why Oct. 24 has been observed as UN Day. • 14 Sep 2005 (Chosun Ilbo-Seoul) South Korea's Astronomy and Space Science Institute has announced that, for the period 2006-2018, at least one of the two extended South Korean public holidays, Chuseok and the Lunar New Year, will fall on a weekend, with both extended public falling on a weekend in 2009 and 2012. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the South Korea public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Laws: Official public holidays in South Korea are regulated by 3 laws/decrees: the Labor Day Act which establishes May 1st as a mandatory official public holiday applicable to all employers in Korea, the State Holidays Act which specifies government holidays, and finally the Ministry of Government and Home Affairs (MOGAHA)’s Regulation on Closure Days for Public Offices. • Workweek: South Korea adopted a five-day workweek system nationwide starting July, 2005. Under the new system, all employees of public organizations as well as non-government workplaces with 300 employees or more will take Saturdays off. • Weekend Public Holidays: Public holidays that fall on a weekend are not moved to the following Monday (or any other weekday), even if 2 different public holidays fall on the same weekend day (as in 2006 for Buddha Day and Children Day, and in 2009 for the second day of the Ch'usok public holiday and Foundation Day). • Other holidays : Other national holidays are designated by the South Korean government when necessary, like general elections, presidential election, or local autonomy elections, but the days for by-elections or re-elections are not designated as national holidays. Even when a national holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday is not a public holiday. • Hangeul Day: commemorates the invention of Hangeul, the Korean writing system, and was designated a national holiday in 1945, but was downgraded to a commemoration day in 1990, and restored to the status of National Day in 2005. However, due to the passage to a 5-day workweek, the same year, Hangeul Day is now a National Holiday that is not a day off work (ie. despite the change in status, in practice, it remains a commemoration day). • Labor Day (May 1st) is not a national public holiday but all banks and many businesses do close. • Parents' Day (May 8th) Although it is observed, it is not a public holiday. • South Korea International Codes KR and KOR (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .kr (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of South Korea information and news: Bank of Korea (South Korea central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (South Korea maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in South Korea), and Wikipedia (includes South Korea commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in South Korea, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in South Korea that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Korean Calendar Holidays : Both traditional Korean calendars used in South Korea (solar and lunar) possess a structure very similar to their Chinese counterparts. However, the Korean calendars use Korea's time zone as a reference point, rather than Beijing's, to determine the date when a Korean lunar calendar or Korean Solar Calendar event occurs. This sometimes causes some holidays based on either of the Korean calendars to occur one day earlier than the corresponding Chinese date (this occurs, on average, in about 4% of the cases).

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2009 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for South Korea, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of South Korea, before planning any trip to South Korea. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.