Passport & Visa

Any foreign visitors wishing to enter the Republic of Korea must have a valid passport and obtain a Korean visa before coming. But people of 99 countries who want to visit Korea temporarily are permitted to enter without a visa according to visa-exemption agreements, or in accordance with principles reciprocity or national interest. For more information, please visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade at www.mofat.go.kr/english/visa/apply/index.jsp
 

Weather

Korea has four distinct seasons - spring, summer, fall and winter. Fall lasts from September to November. During the month of October the average temperature ranges from 11 to 19. To find the current weather of Seoul, please visit
http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/index.jsp on the web.

Time Differences

Korea is 9 hours ahead of GMT (standard time).

Clothing

The weather in Korea during the period of the conference is fall. Fall, a season for trench coats, is the best season to visit Korea because of clear skies and low humidity. In September and October, long slacks, long-sleeved shirts, and cardigans or jackets are ideal.
 

Electricity Supply

The voltage in Korea is 220 volts at 60 Hz.

Foreign exchange and banking

The monetary unit is the Won (KRW, denoted by \). Korean monetary units are 10, 50, 100 , and 500 coins, and 1,000, 5,000 , 10,000  and 50,000 notes. The exchange rate is approximately KRW1,100 / 1 USD (as of September 2011) . All major credit cards such as American Express, Visa and Master Card are accepted for payment of hotel bills.
 

Tipping

Tipping is not a traditional Korean custom. A 10% service charge is added to your bill at all tourist hotels and so tipping is not expected. It is not necessary to tip a taxi driver unless he assists you with luggage or provides an extra service.

Mobile Phone(roaming)

CDMA cellular systems are widely used in Korea. SK Telecom and KTF are providing a SIM card roaming service to allow you to use your GSM subscription in Korea. At the International Airport, you can rent a special CDMA cellular phone which accepts your SIM card. Please check the links below for more details.

• KTF roaming service
  http://www.ktfroaming.com/english/inbound/02_use/01_gsm_01.jsp
• SK Telecom roaming service
  http://www.sktelecom.com/eng/
   

Useful Websites

Emergency & Useful Phone Numbers

Local calls
For local calls within the same area or city, just dial the telephone number. For another area or city, please dial the 'area code' before the telephone number. (E.g. For calls from Seoul to Jeju, please dial the area code for Jeju (064) before the telephone number)

However, the area code should be dialed when using a mobile phone.

International Calls
For international calls, first dial the international access code (001,002, or 008), the country code, area code and the recipient's number.

Emergency

VAT

A Value-Added Tax (VAT) is levied on most goods and services at a standard rate of 10% and is included in the retail price. At hotels, a 10% VAT is applied to rooms, meals and other services and is included in the bill.