About Korea 101

What Korea 101 is

Korea 101 (koreastart.com) is a free, English-language guide for foreigners living in, working in, or visiting South Korea. It gathers the practical things nobody explains when you arrive — visas and immigration, jobs and pay, daily life, transport, and travel — into clear, up-to-date guides, alongside a community board where people help each other.

Why it exists

Official information about Korea is scattered across dozens of government sites, often only in Korean, and rarely written for someone doing it for the first time. Korea 101 translates that reality into plain English: what to do, in what order, and where the official channel is when something matters.

How we keep it accurate

• Guides are checked against official 2026 sources (Korea Immigration Service, HiKorea, the Ministry of Employment & Labor, the NHIS, the NTS, KTO and others) and dated with a "Last verified" note.
• For high-stakes topics — visas, taxes, labor, healthcare — we point you to the official body or a licensed professional rather than giving risky specifics.
• Korea 101 provides general information, not legal, tax, immigration, medical or financial advice. Always confirm important decisions with the relevant authority.

Who runs it

Korea 101 is an independent site operated by Jason Ryu (Koreastart.com), based in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do. It started as a way to answer the same questions newcomers ask again and again, and grew into a full guide and community.

How it's funded

Korea 101 is free to read and supported by advertising (Google AdSense). Ads help keep the guides free and the community open. See our Privacy Policy for how ads and analytics use cookies.