4 Important Factors To Consider If You Are Thinking About Living in Korea

Moving to another country is a big chance in one’s life. That’s why people need to be careful and thoughtful. Here are four crucial factors people need to consider if thinking about living in Korea.

1. PRICE

If you’re thinking about living in Korea, the primary factor you might want to consider is the “PRICE” of Korea. Living in Korea can be cheap, okay, or expensive, depending on one’s financial status. As everyone knows, it takes money to live.

Statistics

• According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the average monthly living cost of a single-person household was 1,610,000KRW (≈1,301USD as of today) last year.
• Also, consumer price growth rose to around 6% in 2022. This was the highest increase since the 1998 financial crisis.

2. WORK

First of all, you have to find a job in Korea. Then, there comes ‘work culture.’ Work culture varies from country to country. Korea tends to have a higher workload than most Western countries and to have a “Work Hard, Play Hard” attitude (although we can’t generalize). The point is to be aware of how different Korea’s work culture can be from your home country.

Statistics

• According to the OECD, Korea’s working hours were 1915 hours a year in 2021, ranking 5th among 38 OECD countries. (Mexico had the longest working hours with 2128 hours.)

3. WEATHER

Weather meme in Korea. ????

• 1 ~ 3 : Long padded jacket

• 4 : It’s time to take out your spring clothes!
• 5 ~ 9 : Short-sleeves
• 10 : It’s time to take out your autumn clothes!
• 11 ~ 12 : Long padded jacket

Korea has four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. But, you also need to consider how humid summer gets and how short spring and autumn can be. (I feel like spring and autumn is getting shorter every year!) If you’re from a warm country, get ready for a freezing cold winter. If you’re from a dry-summer country, get ready for a humid, feels-like-a-sauna summer.

4. TRAVELING AND LIVING ARE DIFFERENT

Traveling and living are two different things. There will be many more personal and societal tasks that you have to go through compared to when you were traveling. (e.g., house, car, job, insurance, community, food, homesick, etc.) But, there will also be great experiences and feelings that you can only understand by living.

For those who have thoughts about living in Korea, UoH will continue to provide quality information about “living” in Korea.

Do you have plans to move to Korea? What’s your biggest concern?