Korea Aerospace Administration releases 2027 calendar guidelines

[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

Workers will enjoy 119 days off next year, with 10 stretches of three or more consecutive holidays — two more such runs than this year.

The Korea Aerospace Administration announced the 2027 calendar guidelines, the official reference document used to produce calendars in South Korea for 2027 (the 4360th year of the Dangi calendar).

The guidelines, published annually by the administration under the Astronomical Act, set out precise dates and seasonal divisions based on astronomical calculations, along with public holidays designated by relevant laws, to help the public plan their daily lives and activities.

Red-letter public holidays for government offices in 2027 total 76 days — comprising 52 Sundays, national holidays, substitute holidays, and 24 additional days including Labor Day and Constitution Day, which were newly designated as official public holidays this year. However, because seollal (Feb. 7), Memorial Day (June 6), Liberation Day (Aug. 15) and National Foundation Day (Oct. 3) fall on Sundays, the effective total of public holidays comes to 72 days.

For institutions operating a five-day workweek, the 72 public holidays combine with 52 Saturdays for a raw total of 124 days off. After subtracting five public holidays that fall on Saturdays — the first day of the seollal holiday period (Feb. 6), Labor Day (May 1), Constitution Day (July 17), Hangul Day (Oct. 9) and Christmas (Dec. 25) — the effective total is 119 days off.

The 10 stretches of three or more consecutive days off are: Jan. 1–3 (New Year's Day plus the weekend, three days); Feb. 6–9 (Saturday, seollal and a substitute holiday, four days); Feb. 27–March 1 (weekend and March 1 Independence Movement Day, three days); May 1–3 (Labor Day, Sunday and a substitute holiday, three days); July 17–19 (Constitution Day, Sunday and a substitute holiday, three days); Aug. 14–16 (Saturday, Liberation Day and a substitute holiday, three days); Sept. 14–16 (chuseok and the chuseok holiday period, three days); Oct. 2–4 (Saturday, National Foundation Day and a substitute holiday, three days); Oct. 9–11 (Hangul Day, Sunday and a substitute holiday, three days); and Dec. 25–27 (Christmas, Sunday and a substitute holiday, three days).

Key traditional holidays in 2027 fall on the following dates: seollal (the first day of the first lunar month) on Feb. 7, a Sunday; Jeongwol Daeboreum (the 15th day of the first lunar month) on Feb. 21, a Sunday; Dano (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month) on June 9, a Wednesday; Chilseok (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month) on Aug. 8, a Sunday; and chuseok (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month) on Sept. 15, a Wednesday. Hansik falls on April 6, a Tuesday; Chobok on July 20, a Tuesday; Jungbok on July 30, a Friday; and Malbok on Aug. 9, a Monday.

Full details of the 2027 calendar guidelines are available from Monday in the Official Gazette and on the websites of the Korea Aerospace Administration and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com