About Koreanomics

Koreanomics (Korea + economics) explains the money side of living in Korea in plain English: what comes out of your payslip, which tax rate to choose, how to get your pension contributions back when you leave, what a jeonse deposit is, how to buy Korean stocks, and what it costs to travel here.

It is the English sister of Wonomics (Korean-language money guides) and Busanomics (Busan local information). The three sites share one calculation engine, so the tax tables, insurance rates and thresholds you see here are the same ones used on the Korean sites — updated once, in one place, every January.

How we work

Every number has a source and a date. Rates and thresholds come from Korean law, government notices and official agency guidance (National Tax Service, National Pension Service, National Health Insurance Service, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Immigration). Each article lists its sources at the bottom and shows the date it was last checked.

We write for foreigners specifically. Korean rules often have a foreigner-only branch — the 19% flat tax, the pension lump-sum refund, the six-month health insurance rule, visa-linked wage floors. Those branches are the point of this site, not a footnote.

Calculators, not just explanations. Most guides include a calculator whose logic is visible in the page source, so you can check it.

No recommendations. We do not recommend securities, brokers, clinics or landlords, and we are not affiliated with any Korean government agency. Where a page mentions a company, it is for illustration.

How we check a number

  1. The rule itself first. Rates and thresholds are read from the statute or decree on the Korean Law Information Center, then from the agency notice that applies it (tax, pension, health insurance, immigration). English summaries by agencies are used to cross-check wording, not as the only source.
  2. Dated, not timeless. Each figure is tied to the year it applies to and the page shows when it was last checked. A government proposal that has not passed is labelled as proposed, with its planned start date.
  3. "About" means estimate. Prices from shops, apps and booking sites move daily; where a figure comes from a listing or a survey rather than a rule, it is marked about and the date of the check is given.
  4. Calculators use the same tables as the text. If a rate changes, it is changed once in the shared data file and every page and calculator updates together.

How the site is funded

Koreanomics carries advertising and, on some travel and shopping pages, affiliate links (for example to booking platforms). Those pages say so at the top, and the links are marked as sponsored in the page code. A commission never changes the price you pay, which options a page lists, or the order they appear in; prices on the page come from the cited sources, not from partners. We do not accept payment for coverage.

What we are not

Koreanomics is not a law firm, tax adviser, immigration agent or financial adviser. Individual situations — your nationality, visa, tax treaty and employer — change the answer. Use the site to understand the rules and prepare questions; confirm decisions with the relevant agency or a licensed professional.

Contact

Corrections and questions: contact page. We fix factual errors quickly and record substantive changes in the page's update history, with the date.