Holidays

Holidays (공휴일/公休日) refer to the days which are designated as doing no work, or having special significance - national, traditional, religious, historical, cultural, and so on. For example, the Buddha's Birthday is observed as a public holiday of religious significance like Christmas.

In this regard, it is occasionally debated why public officials including teachers of public schools cannot observe the Labor Day on May 1 each year.

In Korea
The public holidays shall be designated by the Regulation on Public Office Holidays (관공서의 공휴일에 관한 규정) and observed by the public sector organizations. In the private sector, private companies and organizations have decided their own holidays in line with the said public holidays.

Article 2 of the said Regulation provides for the public holidays as follows:
 * Sundays (일요일)
 * Independence Day (삼일절 March 1st), Liberation Day (August 15) and National Foundation Day (October 3)
 * New Year Day (신정 January 1st only)
 * Lunar New Year Day and its previous and following days (설날 three days of December 31, January 1 and 2 by Lunar Calendar)
 * Buddha's Birthday (석탄일 April 8 by the Lunar Calendar)
 * Children's Day (어린이날 May 5)
 * Memorial Day (현충일 June 6)
 * Chuseok (추석 Korean Thanksgiving Days of August 14, 15, 16 by the Lunar Calendar)
 * Christmas (성탄절 December 25)
 * Election day (공직선거일) on which an election shall take place prior to the expiry of public office terms subject to Article 34 of the Public Job Election Act.
 * Other day designated by the government from time to time.

Substitution Holiday
The substitution holiday (대체휴일/代替休日), which is the next day of a holiday which coincidentaly falls on Saturday or Sunday, is more often than not discussed at the National Assembly, but the Ministry of Security and Public Administration and the business circle are opposed to it. The more holidays increase, the more employers have to pay for extra holiday allowances and reduced production, and the less non-regular workers are paid.

From Chuseok holidays in 2013, the substitution holidays will be observed. But only Lunar New Year holidays, Chuseok holidays and Children's Day are concerned.

The above-mentioned Regulation was amended by the government on October 29, 2013. The government official said the number of holidays will increase by 11 days for the next 10 years. It means 1.1 day-increase per year. It means more days are available for leisure, shopping and traveling overseas.

Previous Holidays no longer observed
The following holidays are no more observed taking into consideration the number of total holidays a year and five-day a week system since 2006.
 * January 2nd and 3rd day since 1999
 * Arbor Day (식목일 April 5) since 2006
 * Constitution Day (제헌절 July 17) since 2008
 * Armed Forces Day (국군의 날 October 1) since 1991
 * United Nations Day (유엔의 날 October 24) since 1976

OECD Standards
The number of public holidays, officially 14 days at present, are discussed in terms of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards.

As a matter of fact, the number of holidays are not comparatively more than other OECD member states. It is said that Korean laborers work harder by four hundred days a year on average than OECD workers. It is reported that Korean workers spend 2,090 hours a year at work next to Mexican laborers 2,250 hours a year.