The guide you wanted before you arrived.

Numbers · 6 min

Why 100 million becomes 1억

English speakers tend to group large numbers by thousands. Korean groups the named large units every ten thousand. That one structural difference explains most of the confusion.

A reliable reading method

1. Start at the right and mark groups of four digits.
2. Read each group as an ordinary number.
3. Add 만, 억 or 조 to the corresponding group.

For example, ₩350,000,000 becomes 3억 5천만 원: three groups of 억 plus five thousand groups of 만.

Addresses · 8 min

Write a Korean address for overseas forms

For an international label, start with the recipient and apartment detail, continue with the road and district, and finish with the city, postal code and country.

Keep these Korean road endings

-daero is a major road, -ro is a road and -gil is a smaller road branching from another. Do not translate them into invented English street names.

Use the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s English address search to confirm the exact romanization and postal code before sending anything important.

Housing · 10 min

The calm guide to 전세 and 월세

A Korean rental listing normally presents a refundable deposit and, for 월세, a recurring monthly payment. Bigger deposits can sometimes be paired with lower rent.

Compare the whole offer

Include monthly rent, building fees and the cost of tying up the deposit. Then separately verify the property, owner, registration, contract and any deposit-protection requirements before transferring funds.

Korea Kit’s calculator is a planning aid. It cannot confirm that a property or contract is safe.

Documents · 7 min

HWP vs HWPX, without the jargon

Both are Korean word-processing formats associated with Hancom Office. HWP is the older binary format; HWPX is a newer package of structured XML files.

Privacy first

Government forms, contracts and school records can contain sensitive personal information. Prefer tools that process them entirely on your device, and never assume a converted document preserves every table, font or signature field.