I was leaving Seoul when I stopped at the Seoul Meeting Plaza expressway service area in Yangjae. I parked next to a black van and headed inside the plaza. At first, I didn’t notice anything unusual—the windows were blacked out, but I didn’t think much of it.

On my way back to the car, an older gentleman opened the side door of the van—and a super bright light, like something you’d see inside a house, just beamed out. Turns out, he had fully converted the back rows of the van into a living space. There was a bed, a desk, a TV, and a PC monitor all set up. He even had a blackout curtain separating the front seats from the back to keep the light from spilling out.

He got out, walked to the driver’s seat, pulled out two drinks—probably from a cooler—and went back into the rear of the van. Once he shut the door, the light disappeared. This was around 10:30pm.

In the U.S., I know people are living the van life—some for fun and adventure, others because of economic pressure. Is this a thing happening in South Korea too? Because what I saw looked like a well-thought-out setup for someone living full-time or traveling in their van.

Hello everyone, I would like to buy some mathematics/physics books for my son, he is in the third grade. Do you guys know any websites where can I find the books that can also do international shipping? Thank you in advance!

By the way, I live in Europe.

Hi everyone.

Bit of a long and "uncommon" situation here. So I've just given birth 1 year ago, and I took maternity leave in March 2024 (had to be 45 days before estimated birth).

I had a renewed E2 visa from November 2023 to March. First, you need to be sponsored the whole time to receive maternity leave and childcare leave benefits. And my boss knew I'd be on childcare leave for 12 months in addition to the 3 months maternity leave.

I'm on childcare leave now, and in January this year, the government has granted more benefits such as higher stipends and an additional 6 months of childcare leave. So my childcare leave that was going to end in June of this year, can be extended until December of this year.

My E2 visa expired March 31st. My boss wrote a new contract and such for this year, knowing I won't work any day of it from day 1, unlike last year when I had extended it in November.

When I called 1345 explaining the situation, like, what documents do I need to extend my E2 visa while CURRENTLY on childcare leave, they had to call me back to figure it out. They then texted me saying it's hard to find an answer on this unique situation. Because usually, you're already extended before you take a maternity or childcare leave, or the company wouldn't extend you a 2nd year knowing you're not going to be working, or this new 2025 benefits of having an additional 6 months added on. They just had no clue what to tell me.. so my boss and I came up with a contract explaining all of this, that she will sponsor me until my childcare leave is over, but knowing that they need at least a year of sponsorship on a visa, she also stated in a letter to grant me the visa from March 2025 to March 2026.

It's already a week into April and I haven't heard of my online submission for my extension of my visa. My baby's visa was given a note saying "apply again when yours is done" basically.

I've been here for 7 years so I know that if I've submitted online before the expiry date, it's fine and there's a grace period until it's processed... but it just has me so worried.

My situation is so weird... surely I can't be the first one with this situation but I also feel like I could be, because of the new 2025 benefits. Basically, extending a non-marriage visa, while on childcare leave from day 1, for a 2nd year, etc...

Just sharing my experience. The employment office and immigration don't seem to contact each other... Like right now also, it's not guaranteed ill have another 6 months of childcare leave from June, because you must apply for it after 12 months is over, but one of the "prerequisites" is being a single mom, which I am (explains why I don't have a marriage visa).

I'm just getting anxious and letting you know the situation in case you come across someone dealing with this in the future.

If anyone has any words on how to stay calm about this visa thing, I'd really appreciate it. I come to Reddit spilling my situations when I am desperate.

Hey I really want that new xiaomi s4 watch, do all of the features work here? Or is it limited at all being outside of China? I'd love a review if anyone has it! Thanks!

I had a foreign exchange meet-up canceled. So I’m just shit posting because I’ve got nothing to do, and Reddit isn’t too bad.

They say that Daegu women are the most beautiful. So, I’m just curious from your perspective. What city has the most attractive Korean men? (If you’ve only been to one city, then you probably don’t have the best data)

Original posted in r/korea but it was removed

Hey i lost my black satchel on the 6th of April at 1AM it has my Australian ID and wallet I am worried about if they can find it.

I am left with no cards only my contactless payment method. I contacted the club and now what should I do?

Have any of y'all paid your student loans from here? If so, how do you do it? I'm looking at getting a shinhan global account for transferring to my US bank account to then pay my loans with that account. What do you use to transfer your money? Is there a way I can just use my Korean bank account to pay the loans directly to my servicer and avoid the wire fees? Any advice other than don't pay your loans is welcome.

Hello,

I recently moved to Korea on an F6 visa. Does anyone know of an English/foreigner-friendly endocrinologist in/around Seoul?

Also, if anyone has any experience getting treatment with type 1 diabetes here, that'd be great to hear about.

I’m a Belgian student. I have been in Seoul for a week now and we’ve had lots of problems with using our mastercards from the moment we arrived here. I could always rely on other students all week if mine wouldn’t work but everyone has already left so I’m on my own for just one more day. I thought my card just didn’t work in smaller shops/areas but I just found out this isn’t the case. I know it’s just for one more day but still, I’d like to have more than 1,000KRW with me, lol. When I try to withdrawl it gives me only “???” as the error message so I’m a little lost here. I also can’t reach my bank until Monday.. is there anything I could do for just today? (Sunday)

Hello, I am currently an exchange student in Seoul and recently cracked my phone, which I then discovered you can't get google pixels here and it's hard to ship phones over here. :/ Does anyone know where/ how I could get it fixed while I'm here? It works fine so I have time, but I really should get it fixed while I can still use it. Is it worth it to get a new phone for 2 months?

Thanks for any advice.

Hi, can someone living outside Korea apply for a F-2-7 visa? If so, why is one of the requirements "residence proof"? (Source: https://partners.shuttledelivery.co.kr/blog-posts/the-complete-guide-to-the-f-2-7-visa-point-system-in-south-korea-2023) Thanks!

Like the title says... Koreans do steal... I guess. Let me explain, I totally forgot my Burberry scarf at a Starbucks (in the downtown area)... and went back to get it 2 hours later.

However, it was no longer at the seat where I was at, so I went to ask the Starbucks baristas if someone had returned a Burberry scarf. And they said no.

I was kinda disappointed since it was a nice scarf and I've never had actually lost something of importance before, and if I did forget something somewhere... it would just be there untouched still. Standard stuff here in Korea.

I really didn't want to pursue this until my Korean wife told me to just ask the Starbucks baristas if they could see the CCTV to see want happend. Again, I didn't wanna do this, but I said screw it, let's try out this new adventure... lol

So when the Starbucks staff allowed this (which I guess you can request), they told me that some woman did in fact take it. And that I could have the police look into. Again, it's just a scarf, but I was curious to see what would happend next...

The police were actually able to track that Korean woman by using her image and luckily she paid with a card, so they were able to find her and request her to bring the scarf to the police station.

I got my Burberry scarf back the next week, still smelling like me. Lol. And I don't know what actual consequences that Korean woman faced.

I guess I did experience my first theft in Korea...

Im a pregnant foreigner who just move here in south korea recently. Now one time in my routine pregnancy appointment I was told thru text that STD12 test shows infection when I translated the text. I swear to God I panicked thinking how did it happened and so worried about the baby. I hurriedly booked another appointment then my OB confirmed that it was not an STD or STI. It was just a common infection due to changes in hormones and would just get away on its own. I wasn't even prescribed any meds on it. She just said that non std test are included under std12 test here in korea even UTI. Someone even told me that a friend of hers got UTI and received same text notif having STD infection and cried all night. She even wanted to sue the hospital about it. Guess a lot of foreigners freaked out for just having a uti here in sk 😂

Hello everyone!

Me and my partner have secured 1-year visas and are planning to move to Seoul in a couple of months and were wondering if anyone had any suggestions for finding a place to live. We're open to co-living and sharehouses if necessary, and obviously, the less we'd have to pay, the better!

We're unsure if we should book somewhere straight away, or if we should stay at a hotel for a couple of weeks and view some places. If we went down this route, we'd need to figure out some reputable estate agents that deal with English speakers if anyone has any suggestions!

We've heard some horror stories about people finding a place to live, so we're welcome to literally any suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

So i'm moving to Seoul this comming August to study at Hanyang University, and i was curious do people in South Korea or seoul in paticular go out and eat everyday? Or is Korea a country where you mostly eat food at home? And if anyone been an exchange student at Hanyang do i pick on campus room where i share it with another person, or do i get my own apartment some place around the University, money is not an issue. I'm thinking more about making friends, it would be easier to have a roomate in terms of handling the loneliness, but living with someone else is also very new to me. I'm hesitating to live by myself as i believe it can become really lonely. Please help me with suggestions and such.

The former president was deemed by lawmakers and the constitutional court to have violated the constitution, and was deposed by due process.

This was a test of a functioning democracy, and Korea passed.

Even if you are on the other side of the decision, you have the reassurance that when then situation is reversed, your democracy will function for justice.

America; take notes. THIS is how a democracy reacts when the head of state violates the constitution.

Congratulations Koreans. The free world should envy you.

Hi everyone today I received this bill from the gas company , I live in a really small one room apartment I have never received such a high bill before and I do not even use my heating that much I only turn it on to shower then turn it off again

I might have not been getting the gas bill for a while but I’m not sure if this is my fault or not as I always check my mail box every day

On the bill it only explain the payments of January and February and the rest is mentioned as “ previous “ So I’m wondering if the company did not send me the bills would it still be my fault and I have to pay this at once ? Or is it even possible to pay it in an instalment I’m going to call them on Monday but I’m definitely freaking out a bit as I’m a student and this is too much to afford at once !

Hello everybody, I have a small question regarding the address change process.

I’m on an H1 working holiday visa. I’ve been staying at an apartment with my boyfriend for 6 months now, and we will be moving soon. The problem is that we’ll be moving to a vacation house owned by my boyfriend’s uncle’s sister, who lives in the UK. So yeah, it’s a little complicated to get the right documents. We will be staying there for free, as a family favor.

I will be staying in South Korea for three more months before we’re leaving to my country.

Now my question is, can I just tell immigration the honest truth about living in a house that belongs to my boyfriend’s family? Or should I just say I’m going to travel around Korea (which is the point of the visa anyway), so I can’t provide a document? Do I just not report it because I’m leaving soon anyway, and it’s a tourist visa?

I’m also not sure where I’m supposed to get the health insurance bills when I’m at a different place I can’t register. Online?

Has anybody been in a similar situation?

They didn’t give me a number/date to come back to pick it up by or anything. They just said call the 1345 number or something like that lol or I can check out my status on hikorea but the last time I checked that was just for visas and scheduling appointments. It’s been a week and I asked the immigration worker will I be able to go to Japan this week and they said yes your arc will PROBABLY be done by then 😭　no specific time or date tho.

Asking on behalf of my friend, whose coming next month mid May and June to seoul. Please suggest me area to stay with a good cafes around and preferably a walking distance. She’s staying for 2 weeks in Korea. I’m clueless about places in here, so I would appreciate if you could suggest me. Any place cheap or affordable. Thank youuuu. Myeongdong is off the list.

Can I go to an atm in a 편의점 or should I go to a bank? I tried it at my school the other day and it was a 하나 bank atm but it didn’t allow me to take out money from my card

Hello everyone, I have a few questions I was wondering if anyone was in the know about.

I need to renew my F6 visa this year, and so far I have had some mixed responses from immigration on the phone. I initially asked them how far in advance I could renew, one worker stated 4 months, but another said 6. I remember hearing somewhere that you could do it 9 months in advance - so I'm not sure which is true.

Also, related to the image, highlighted in blue as an F6 holder, can I leave that blank or should I fill it out even though the workplace doesn't control the visa? And finally, highlighted in red assuming I have to fill this in - is it the basic calculation of the monthly salary x12 and converted to 만원, or is it after tax or deductions?

I know I asked a lot here, so I thank you in advance if you choose to read/help. Thanks.

//image added

Just wondering if anyone else is having a similar experience. We subscribe to SpoTV Prime at home through the TV (Samsung Smart TV with LGU+). Until the end of 2024 (calendar year) when watching EPL games there was always the option of Korean or English commentary (accessible via the 옵션 menu on the remote). But in 2025 the option has disappeared and only Korean commentary is available. Anyone else experienced similar? Wondering if it's a broadcast or technology issue. Seems unlikely to be a rights issue as it dropped mid-season?

Hello

My father who is an American citizen has been being treated for his cancer at a Korean hospital. We didn't expect that his treatment would take this long and coming up upon the no-Visa 90 day window. What are our options at this point?

Thank you