See DemonstrationsДЄir pollution, including yellow dust pollution, is common in South Korea throughout the year and especially during spring months. You should take extra care as in any crowded place. Public demonstrations are mostly peaceful and well-policed, but the risk of violence remains. Sirens are sounded, transport stopped and some people are asked to take shelter in metro stations or basements. The South Korean authorities provide advice on responding to civil emergencies, and hold regular nationwide civil emergency exercises. You can also sign up to email alerts to be notified about future updates to this travel advice. See Political situationД¬heck the foreign travel checklist and crisis overseas page to find out more about things you can do before and during foreign travel to plan effectively and stay safe. In the past, heightened tensions havenвЂ™t affected daily life. Tensions have usually arisen around the time of South Korean-US military exercises. The level of tension between North and South Korea, and the security situation, can change with little notice. You should monitor the Korean Meteorological Administration website and follow any advice given by the local authorities and the emergency services. The typhoon season normally runs from June to November. You need to obtain a K-ETA to enter South Korea visa-free. All foreign arrivals, regardless of their point of departure, are required to be tested for COVID-19 on arrival in South Korea. See CoronavirusДЄll foreign nationals arriving in South Korea are required to provide a negative PCR test declaration, issued within 72 hours of departure. You should check the South Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and Ministry of Health and Welfare websites (English) and follow local guidance. South KoreaвЂ™s social distancing requirements are regularly reviewed and updated. See the FCDOвЂ™s guidance on foreign travel insurance.ДЇor information about COVID-19 vaccines, see the Coronavirus page. If youвЂ™re planning travel to South Korea, find out what you need to know about coronavirus there in the Coronavirus section.Дuring the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to get travel insurance and check it provides sufficient cover. A spokesman, Jeong Joon-Hee, said the NorthвЂ™s new time zone could also hamper efforts to narrow widening differences between their countries.Check what you must do to travel abroad and return to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. SeoulвЂ™s Unification Ministry said on Friday that the NorthвЂ™s action could bring minor disruption at a jointly run industrial park at the North Korean border city of Kaesong and other inter-Korean affairs.

South Korea says it uses the same time zone as Japan because itвЂ™s more practical and conforms to international practice. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were forced to fight as frontline soldiers, work in slave-labour conditions or serve as prostitutes in brothels operated by the Japanese military during the war. Many Koreans, especially the elderly, still harbour resentment against Japan for its colonial occupation.

The issue of time is a deeply sensitive one in both Koreas. Its goal was to synchronise SamoaвЂ™s dateline with that of New Zealand and Australia, its two primary trading partners. The move was economic rather than defiantly political. On December 29th 2011 the south Pacific island of Samao changed its date, skipping December 30th and jumping a day ahead to December 31. It has stuck with it, ostensibly in order to balance its sprawling eastern and western halves. Kathmandu adopted Nepal Standard Time in 1956. It includes the mountain kingdom of Nepal, which at GMT +5.45 is 15 minutes ahead of Delhi, its vast neighbour. North Korea now joins a select club of small, proud nations that have anomalous time zones. North KoreaвЂ™s state television announces the creation of Pyongyang time Guardian

Time in south korea