Hire and pay employees in
South Korea, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in South Korea. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in South Korea is 2 days with Deel.

Currency

South Korean Won (KRW)

Capital

Seoul

Official Language

Korean

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in South Korea with Deel.

Usually, to hire in South Korea, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in South Korea quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

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All the necessary benefits for South Korea
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in South Korea within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Pension Fund
  • Public Health Insurance
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Workers Compensation Insurance
  • Private Healthcare - Allianz (optional)
  • Global Life Insurance - Allianz

Our quickstart guide to hiring in South Korea

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in South Korea

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage is KRW 10,030 per hour and KRW 2,096,270 per month starting January 1, 2025.

Please note: Fixed monetary benefits, including fixed allowances and bonuses, will be included in the calculation of the minimum wage.

Individual Income Tax

The individual income tax ranges from 6% to 45%. Income tax is calculated according to progressive rates.

Income (KRW) Tax Rate (%)

Less than 12,000,000

6%

12,000,001 - 46,000,000

15%

46,000,001 - 88,000,000

24%

88,000,001 - 150,000,000

35%

150,000,001 - 300,000,000

38%

300,000,001 - 500,000,000

40%

500,000,001 - 1,000,000,000

42%

More than 1,000,000,000

45%

Payroll Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 11% of the employee salary plus disable hiring fee.

  • National pension* - 4.50%
  • National health insurance - 3.54%
  • Long-term care insurance - 0.448%
  • Employment insurance - 1.15% - 1.75%
  • Workers' compensation insurance - 0.726%
  • Resident Tax - 0.50%
  • Disable hiring fee - KRW 62,328 (estimated)

*Calculated on the employee's salary, up to a maximum monthly contribution of KRW 265,500

These costs are provided as estimates and are intended solely for general informational purposes. To fully comprehend all associated costs and fees related to the terms of any employment agreement for this country, please contact our Sales team for a quote.

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard work week is from Monday to Friday.

Overtime payment is mandatory. Hours outside of standard work hours are considered overtime. Employees can work a maximum of 12 hours per week. For additional hours, employees are paid a minimum of 150% of their average salary.

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Hiring in South Korea, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in South Korea with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in South Korea and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

Starting at 599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

~11% + fixed fee

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in South Korea?

View our Employee Cost Calculator
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