No, today is not a public holiday in South Korea

How to tell if today is a public holiday in South Korea

South Korea observes fifteen designated public holidays under the Act on Public Holidays for Public Institutions, expanded in 2021 to apply the same calendar to private workplaces with five or more employees. The list mixes civic dates (Independence Movement Day on 1 March, Liberation Day on 15 August, National Foundation Day on 3 October, Hangul Day on 9 October) with lunar holidays (Seollal Korean New Year and Chuseok harvest festival, each three days) and Buddha's Birthday by the lunar calendar. The substitute holiday system introduced in 2014 and broadened in 2021 grants a make-up weekday whenever Seollal, Chuseok or several other holidays fall on a Sunday or Saturday.

That structure is why a simple "is it a holiday today" answer for South Korea is more nuanced than a single yes or no. A date can be a public holiday at the national level, a regional one observed only in certain states or provinces, or a banking holiday that closes financial settlement without closing every employer. The status shown above reflects the nationally recognised public holiday list for South Korea; if you are in a specific region, check the full calendar for the local additions that do not appear on the national list.

Working days and the holiday calendar in South Korea

Korean Labour Standards Act article 50 sets a 40-hour, five-day working week with a 52-hour cap including overtime since 2018. The standard private-sector week is Monday to Friday with banks operating Monday to Friday. The Civil Procedure Act article 170 rolls statutory deadlines falling on a Sunday or public holiday to the next working day; Saturdays are also excluded by 2003 amendment. Settlement of Korean won transactions runs on the Bank of Korea's BOK-Wire+ high-value system, which observes the full fifteen-day public holiday list, and on the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute's domestic systems.

Right now there are about 38 full working days between today and Christmas Day, counting Monday to Friday and skipping any other public holidays in between. If you are scheduling a deliverable, a delivery, or a meeting that depends on people being at their desks in South Korea, that is the realistic window you have before the next closure.

For cross-border planning, overlay the South Korea calendar with the calendars of the other countries your team works with. A week that looks completely open from your side can be a national holiday on theirs, and the clash only shows up when you compare the two side by side. The full holiday page links into a country-by-country comparison so you can spot the weeks where almost nobody is at their desk before you commit to a date.

Holiday dates are compiled from Nager.Date and the national sources listed above. Regional and substitute-day rules vary; for legal deadlines, confirm the observed date with the relevant official calendar for South Korea.