South Korea public holidays 2026
South Korea has 18 national public holidays in 2026. Take those and the weekends out of the calendar and 245 working days remain.
Holiday list for 2026
| Date | Weekday | Holiday | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan | Thursday | New Year's Day
새해 |
Nationwide |
| 16 Feb | Monday | Lunar New Year
설날 |
Nationwide |
| 17 Feb | Tuesday | Lunar New Year
설날 |
Nationwide |
| 18 Feb | Wednesday | Lunar New Year
설날 |
Nationwide |
| 2 Mar | Monday | Independence Movement Day
3·1절 |
Nationwide |
| 1 May | Friday | Labour Day
노동절 |
Nationwide |
| 5 May | Tuesday | Children's Day
어린이날 |
Nationwide |
| 25 May | Monday | Buddha's Birthday
부처님 오신 날 |
Nationwide |
| 3 Jun | Wednesday | Local Election Day
지방 선거일 |
Nationwide |
| 6 Jun | Saturday rest day | Memorial Day
현충일 |
Nationwide |
| 17 Jul | Friday | Constitution Day
제헌절 |
Nationwide |
| 17 Aug | Monday | Liberation Day
광복절 |
Nationwide |
| 24 Sep | Thursday | Chuseok
추석 |
Nationwide |
| 25 Sep | Friday | Chuseok
추석 |
Nationwide |
| 26 Sep | Saturday rest day | Chuseok
추석 |
Nationwide |
| 5 Oct | Monday | National Foundation Day
개천절 |
Nationwide |
| 9 Oct | Friday | Hangul Day
한글날 |
Nationwide |
| 25 Dec | Friday | Christmas Day
크리스마스 |
Nationwide |
2026 at a glance
January 1 holiday
February 3 holidays
March 1 holiday
April
May 3 holidays
June 2 holidays
July 1 holiday
August 1 holiday
September 3 holidays
October 2 holidays
November
December 1 holiday
Working days in each month
| Month | Days | Weekend | Holidays | Working | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 3 | 17 | 136 |
| March | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| May | 31 | 10 | 3 | 18 | 144 |
| June | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 1 | 20 | 160 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| October | 31 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| November | 30 | 9 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| 2026 | 365 | 104 | 16 | 245 | 1,960 |
What the numbers say about South Korea in 2026
The count uses Saturday and Sunday as the weekly rest days, the standard pattern in South Korea. Only holidays that apply across the whole country are deducted. Someone working in a region with its own extra days will have a little more time off than these figures show.
2 holidays land on a rest day this year: Memorial Day (6 Jun), Chuseok (26 Sep). On the calendar alone that means no extra time off. Some countries move the day off to the next working day; whether that applies here is set by national rules, so check before you plan around it.
April is the longest working month with 22 days, and February the shortest with 17. A gap of 5 days is enough to make a fixed monthly target noticeably harder in some months than in others. Across quarters, Q1 is the leanest at 59 working days (January, February, March).
Among the 204 countries we track for 2026, the median number of national holidays is 12. With 18, South Korea sits above the middle of the range, around the 94th percentile (the lowest count this year is 3, the highest 49).
Holidays create 10 stretches of three or more days off in a row. The longest lasts 5 days, from 14 February to 18 February (Lunar New Year). There are also 2 bridge days: a single working day squeezed between a holiday and the weekend, where one day of leave turns into four or more days away. See every long weekend in 2026.