South Korea Public holidays
South Korea has 22 public holidays on the calendar held here, in force from 1 Jan 2026. Last checked against the official source on 20 Jul 2026.
Statutory public holidays for calendar year 2026 under the Public Holidays Act and the Regulations on Public Holidays of Government Offices, with substitute-holiday rules applied.
| Current value | 22 days held |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| In force until | 2026-12-31 |
| Official source | 관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정 (Regulations on Public Holidays of Government Offices), Presidential Decree as last amended by Decree No. 36290 (promulgated 2026-04-30; Labour Day provisions in force 2026-05-01, remainder in force 2026-05-11), and 공휴일에 관한 법률 (Public Holidays Act), as amended by Act No. 21338 (promulgated 2026-02-10, in force 2026-05-11) restoring Constitution Day and by Act No. 21543 (promulgated 2026-04-09, in force 2026-05-01) designating Labour Day |
| Last verified | 2026-07-20 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
22 holiday-days including 4 substitute days. Substitution rules applied for 2026: Seollal/Chuseok blocks substitute only when a day overlaps a Sunday or another holiday (Saturday does NOT trigger — hence no substitute for Chuseok's 2026-09-26 Saturday); Children's Day, Independence Movement Day, Liberation Day, National Foundation Day, Hangeul Day, Buddha's Birthday, Christmas plus the newly added Labour Day (from 2026-05-01) and Constitution Day (from 2026-05-11) carry substitute coverage on weekend/holiday overlap — producing 2026 substitutes on Mar 2 (3.1 Day fell Sunday), May 25 (Buddha's Birthday fell Sunday), Aug 17 (Liberation Day fell Saturday) and Oct 5 (Foundation Day fell Saturday); both new holidays fell on Fridays in 2026, so no substitutes arose from them. New Year's Day and Memorial Day (Jun 6, a Saturday in 2026) carry no substitute-holiday coverage by law. TWO holidays were added in-year for 2026: (1) Labour Day (노동절, May 1) became a statutory public holiday for the first time in 63 years via Act No. 21543 (passed by the National Assembly 2026-03-31, promulgated 2026-04-09, in force 2026-05-01 — exactly in time for its first observance on Friday 2026-05-01); previously it was only a private-sector paid day off under the founding act (renamed from 근로자의 날 to 노동절 by a November 2025 amendment); government offices and schools closed nationwide on 2026-05-01 (korea.kr policy briefing, loaded 2026-07-20). (2) Constitution Day (Jul 17) is restored as a public holiday from 2026 — first observance since its 2008 removal — via Act No. 21338 and Decree No. 36290; confirmed also by MOFA consulate notice (https://www.mofa.go.kr/us-losangeles-ko/brd/m_21106/view.do?seq=235 — loaded). Decree No. 36290 (Cabinet-approved 2026-04-28, promulgated 2026-04-30) added both days to the government-office regulation with staggered commencement (Labour Day provisions 2026-05-01, remainder 2026-05-11). Jun 3 election day is statutory under Art. 2(10-2) of the decree (election days for expired terms are public holidays; NEC schedule confirms 2026-06-03). Excluded deliberately: Sundays (weekly holiday for government offices) and non-holiday commemorative days. These holidays are paid days off for private workplaces with 5+ employees under Labor Standards Act Art. 55(2). The Cabinet can designate additional ad-hoc temporary holidays (임시공휴일) in-year; none were designated for 2026 as of 2026-07-20 beyond the list (a mooted 2026-05-04 temporary holiday was expressly disclaimed by the presidential office on 2026-04-01). Access quirk: law.go.kr statute pages return a JavaScript title-shell to plain fetchers (attempted 2026-07-20); dates verified via official notices, the NEC election schedule and multiple concordant calendar sources.
Get it programmatically
curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/public-holidays
# Free.
# History: curl https://asiaref.dev/v1/kr/public-holidays/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://asiaref.dev/provenance/kr/public-holidaysOther South Korea series: Bank of Korea Base Rate · Statutory interest (법정이율) · Value-Added Tax (부가가치세) standard rate · VAT registration threshold · National minimum wage (최저임금) · Consumer price inflation (소비자물가 상승률) · Corporate income tax (법인세) top rate · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax (종합소득세) schedule · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Sri Lanka · Taiwan · Thailand · Türkiye · United Arab Emirates · all 28