Unit Converter

Korean units that are not metric

Metric covers nearly everything, but a handful of traditional measures survive in daily speech and appear on no converter's drop-down list.

• 평 (pyeong) — floor area, roughly 3.3 m². Official property listings have to be in square metres, yet people still say "a 24-pyeong flat", and agents quote both figures side by side.
• 근 (geun) — the market unit for things sold by weight. Traditionally 600 g for meat but 375 g for vegetables and fruit, so one geun of pork is considerably more than a pound.
• 인분 (inbun) — "portions". Korean barbecue and stews are ordered by the portion, and many dishes carry a two-portion minimum. It describes a serving, not a fixed weight.
• Shoes in millimetres — 250, 265, 280, rather than a size number.

Where you will actually reach for this

• Packing and check-in. Airline and rail baggage limits here are posted in kilograms, and so is every hotel bathroom scale.
• Cooking from a Korean recipe. A Korean measuring cup is usually 200 ml, not the 240 ml American cup, with spoons at 15 ml and 5 ml. Substituting US cups quietly shifts the ratios in a sauce.
• Walking and hiking. Trail markers and subway exit signs give distances in metres — 800 m is about half a mile, which is a useful anchor.
• Buying by weight at a market stall, a fruit shop or a butcher's counter.

Reading the result, and estimating in your head

The conversion runs both ways, so you can start from the Korean figure or from yours — whichever you are holding.

• Kilometres to miles: multiply by 6 and shift the decimal one place left. 30 km becomes 18 mi, against a true 18.6.
• Kilograms to pounds: double it, then add ten per cent. 40 kg gives 88 lb, which is accurate to a fraction.

Because results are rounded for readability, converting a value and converting it straight back can shift the final digit. For anything with a hard threshold — a baggage allowance, a shipping weight, a form you have to sign — quote the original number rather than a converted one.

Two things that look convertible but are not

• Electricity. Korean sockets run at 220 V, 60 Hz with round two-pin plugs (types C and F). A travel adapter changes the plug shape only; check that your device is labelled 100–240 V before it goes into the wall, or it will not survive.
• Clothing sizes. Men's tops are labelled 90, 95, 100 — numbers that loosely track chest circumference in centimetres — while women's 44, 55, 66 come from an older sizing standard and correspond to nothing you can measure with a tape. Those need a size chart, not a unit conversion.

Frequently asked questions

Does Korea use miles or kilometres?
Kilometres, everywhere and without exception — road signs, speed limits, running apps and delivery distances. You will not see a mile marker anywhere in the country.

How big is one pyeong in square metres?
About 3.3 m², so a 24-pyeong apartment works out to roughly 79 m². Listings must legally state square metres, but almost every conversation about a home still happens in pyeong.

How much meat is one geun at a Korean market?
For meat, one geun is traditionally 600 g, or about 1.3 lb. For vegetables and fruit the same word means 375 g, so it pays to check which product you are buying by the geun.

Do I need a voltage converter for Korea?
Korea runs on 220 V, 60 Hz. Most phone and laptop chargers are marked 100–240 V and need only a plug adapter, but single-voltage items such as some hair tools do need a proper converter — read the label on the power brick first.