Dollars? Yen? Won?

What is your local currency called and what is it worth?

 

At a glance!

South Korea is a country which fuses both tradition and modernity in an impressive way. Accommodation, transportation and eating outing are all extremely cheap. Even Seoul, which many expect to be expensive like other capital cities, can be enjoyed on a budget by students who are worried about the financial implications of studying abroad.

Won

1.00 USD = approx. 1132 won (12.14.2018) 

 

 Click here for the most updated rate!

 

The currency in South Korea is the won (₩), or KRW. Banknotes and coins are easily identifiable. There are ₩10, ₩50, ₩100 and ₩500 coins; and ₩1000, ₩5000 and ₩10, 000 banknotes.

Accessing your money abroad:

We recommend using your banking card (ATM/debit) from your U.S. bank. Using ATM cards enables you to access your own personal bank account from any ATM machine around the world. International credit cards (American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa) can pretty much be used anywhere. However, only some ATM’s will accept foreign credit/debit cards (look for machines correlated with Cirrus, Star, Interlink, Plus, etc). The bank card issued by your bank is not a credit/debit card, but an ATM card. It can only be used to withdraw cash from bank ATM machines. ATM machines are out of service after 11:00PM so plan accordingly when withdrawing cash.

Find out more about  money and currency in South Korea

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT USING YOUR DEBIT CARD ABROAD:
Check with your bank to make sure you can use your card overseas, and to inform them that you will be living abroad. Give them your dates, and all the countries you anticipate traveling to. It is not uncommon to be cut off from your bank account after using your card abroad, even after giving them forewarning. If this happens, don’t panic! Banks do this to protect their clients, and we should be grateful! If this happens to you, you just need to contact your bank to ensure them that you are in possession of your card and that you need to have access to your account while you are abroad. If you have a shared account with a family member and their name is also on the account, sometimes it’s helpful to get word to them to call the bank for you, considering the time difference between countries.

In order to withdraw cash from an ATM using a debit or credit card, you must have a 4-digit pin. While you’re most likely very familiar with your debit PIN, you might not know a PIN for your credit card. Be sure to ask before you travel, banks will not release this information over the phone, via text, through an email or in any other way than to mail your PIN to the mailing address associated with your account.