South Korea public holidays
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: policy interest rate · VAT rate · minimum wage · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates