South Korea Public Holidays

Discover upcoming public holiday dates for South Korea and start planning to make the most of your time off.

South Koreans are entitled to 16 holidays per year. This makes South Korea one of the countries with the top holiday entitlements, behind India and Colombia.

Prior to 2013, national holidays that fell on a Saturday or Sunday were not substituted on the following work day. However, the Regulation on Closure Days for Public Offices was introduced to substitute a number of overlapping holidays. Specifically, they are:

– Lunar New Year’s Day (if the holiday overlaps with Sunday or other public holidays)
– Korean Thanksgiving Day (if the holiday overlaps with Sunday or other public holidays)
– Children’s Day (if the holiday overlaps with Saturday, Sunday or other public holidays)

Labor Day or Workers’ Day (1 May) is not an official public holiday in South Korea. However, according to the Labor Day Act, employers can stipulate that 1 May be made an official holiday within the company’s rules of employment. For instance, banking institutions and most commercial business are closed that day.