Is South Korea safe for women travellers?

Consensual same-sex activity is legal in civilian life, but the Civil Act defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman and no marriage or civil-union recognition exists, though a 2024 Supreme Court ruling extended national health-insurance dependant coverage to same-sex partners (as of 2025).

There is no gender-recognition statute; legal sex is changed case-by-case by the courts under 2006 Supreme Court guidelines requiring a medical diagnosis and typically hormone therapy or surgery, though a 2022 Supreme Court ruling removed the bar on applicants with minor children (as of 2025).

South Korea ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 11 December 2008 and prohibits disability discrimination under the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Disability Discrimination Act, enacted 2007, in force 2008).

Legal protections for LGBTQ+ people are partial — Equaldex scores 53/100 (2026); some rights are recognised, others are not — check specifics before you travel.

Cannabis is a controlled narcotic under the Act on the Control of Narcotics, Etc.; recreational use, possession or cultivation is illegal (simple possession punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment or a 50 million KRW fine) and Korea prosecutes citizens even for use abroad, while only limited CBD-based medical cannabis has been permitted since 2018.

Pew Research places South Korea in the low-to-moderate band of its Government Restrictions Index on religion (2022 data, published December 2024).

South Korea has no blasphemy or defamation-of-religion law; the only religion-specific criminal provision, Article 158 of the Criminal Act, penalises the disruption of religious ceremonies or funerals, not criticism of religion (as of 2025).

Rated Free, 83/100, by Freedom House (2025).

Foreign students on a D-2 visa staying longer than 90 days must register in person at a local immigration office and obtain a Residence Card (formerly the Alien Registration Card) within 90 days of arrival, as required by the Immigration Act.

A D-2 visa does not itself permit employment; students must first obtain a part-time work permit from immigration, after which term-time work is capped (about 25 hours per week for undergraduates and up to 35 for graduate students meeting Korean-language requirements), with full-time work allowed during official vacations.

Since 1 March 2021 all foreign students holding a D-2 visa and staying six months or longer are automatically and mandatorily enrolled in the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) from their residence-registration date.

Travellers may bring a personal-use supply of ordinary prescription medicines (generally up to a three-month supply) with the prescription and a doctor’s letter in original packaging, but controlled substances such as opioids, benzodiazepines, ADHD stimulants and CBD/THC require advance import approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety under the Narcotics Control Act.