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Eastar Jet's Busan to Hong Kong Red-Eye Starts October 25

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Eastar Jet (이스타항공) told Korean press this morning, September 14 KST, that it will fly Busan to Hong Kong every day from October 25, and the schedule is a red-eye in both directions: out of Gimhae at 21:30, into Hong Kong at 00:10, then back out of Hong Kong at 02:00 and on the ground in Busan at 07:05. If you've been pricing Busan–Hong Kong flights for a winter trip, this is the new option, and it's aimed squarely at people who'd rather burn a night than a day. The details below come from the Korean coverage in Herald Economy , Financial News , Aju News , and Mobility Post , all published between 09:17 and 10:35 this morning. None of the four mention a fare or a sales date, so treat this as a schedule post, not a deal post. The schedule, with the time zone spelled out Hong Kong is one hour behind Korea, so both legs are a little longer than the clock makes them look. Busan 21:30 to Hong Kong 00:10 is 3 hours 40 minutes in the air. Hong Kong 02:00 to Busan 07:05 is 4 hou...
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Myeongdong Still Wins Seoul's Shopping Money, New Data Shows

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Foreign shoppers put ₩568.4 billion (about $424 million) through their cards in Seoul's Jung-gu, the district Myeongdong sits in, during the second quarter of 2026, according to Korea Tourism Organization data reported this week. That's 24.1% of every won foreign tourists spent shopping nationwide, up from 20% a year earlier. Jung-gu's own foreign-card shopping total roughly doubled year over year, growing faster than the national number did. Twenty-four percent of the country's tourist shopping money, funneled through one subway stop?! Your Instagram feed might say otherwise (all Seongsu cafes and Yeouido skyline shots lately), but the receipts tell a different story. Seongsu got the visits. Myeongdong got the money. The Visits Went One Way, the Money Went Another Foreign visitor counts to Seongdong-gu, home to Seongsu, jumped 60.2% year over year in the same quarter. Yeongdeungpo-gu, where Yeouido sits, was up 27.6%. Jung-gu grew a comparatively modest 25.5%, th...
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Chuseok 2026 in Seoul: Last Trains Run Until 1 AM, Not 2

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Seoul's last subway trains and buses during Chuseok 2026 will reach the end of the line by 1 a.m., not the 2 a.m. cutoff the city used the last time this holiday needed the same fix. If you're flying home through Incheon or catching a KTX out of Seoul Station on September 26 or 27, that hour matters more than it sounds like it should. Why the Crush Lands on Exactly Two Nights Chuseok's legal holiday runs Thursday the 24th through Saturday the 26th this year. Sunday the 27th tacks on for free since it's already a weekend day. There's no substitute Monday; that only kicks in when the holiday lands on a Sunday, and this one doesn't ( publicholidays.co.kr ). Monday the 28th is a normal workday, offices open, kids back in school. That's the whole story in one sentence: everyone who left Seoul on the 24th has to be back by Sunday night, not Monday, so the return traffic that would normally spread across three evenings gets pushed into two. Seoul's transit...
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Korea Has 17 Casinos, and Locals Can Only Play at One of Them

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South Korea runs 17 licensed casinos, and Korean citizens are legally allowed inside exactly one of them. The other 16 are foreigner-only, which is usually the first surprise for anyone who searches "can foreigners gamble in Korea" expecting a complicated answer. It isn't. Bring a passport, be 19 or older, and don't hold only a South Korean passport, and you're in. Nineteen, and Bring Real ID The age rule comes straight from the Tourism Promotion Act (Article 28-1-1) and the industry's own operating regulation (Article 21-1). Seven Luck, Grand Korea Leisure's casino brand, spells it out on its own admission page : under 19, you're turned away at the door. The dress code is looser than you'd expect, though. Shorts, jerseys, and sandals can get you refused entry, but there's no suit-and-tie rule waiting to wreck a travel-day outfit. Floors run 24 hours, 365 days a year, so a red-eye landing is no excuse to wait until tomorrow. Walk onto any o...
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Korean Air Just Turned On Free Wi-Fi (and So Did Asiana)

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Korean Air switched on free in-flight Wi-Fi on September 15, 2026, days after Korean Air and Asiana jointly announced the move on September 11. It's the first free, high-speed Wi-Fi either airline has offered, on a carrier that spent years telling passengers in-flight internet wasn't worth installing. If you're flying to or from Korea in the next few months, here's the honest version: it's live, but only on 14 airplanes between the two airlines, and it's probably not the one you're booked on. Which Planes Have It Korean Air's free Wi-Fi is running on four jets so far: three Airbus A350-900s and one Boeing 777-300ER. Asiana has ten equipped: nine A350-900s and one A330-300. That's according to The Korea Times , one of two domestic outlets that reported matching numbers on September 11 (the other's linked in Sources below). Between the two carriers, that's 14 planes out of a combined fleet north of 150. Those specific jets fly mostly medium...
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Korea Just Put $70 Million Behind Skipping Incheon Airport

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South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on September 10 that it's spending 93.5 billion won, starting next year, to turn five regional airports into actual tourist gateways instead of afterthoughts behind Incheon. That's roughly $67–70 million, depending which converter you trust on any given day, and it's the most concrete money the government has put behind the "stop dumping every foreigner in Seoul" plan so far. The five airports getting the cash are Gimhae (Busan), Daegu, Cheongju, Yangyang, and Muan, each paired with a cluster of nearby cities the ministry wants foreign arrivals to actually reach: Gimhae links to Busan, Gyeongju, Ulsan, Geoje, and Tongyeong; Daegu to Gyeongju and Andong; Cheongju to Gongju, Buyeo, Iksan, and Jeonju; Yangyang to Gangneung and Sokcho; Muan to Mokpo, Gwangju, and Yeosu. Reported spending so far covers 14.3 billion won for tourism products, 14.9 billion for transport and payment links, 18 billion for over...
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K-ETA for Korea: Who's Exempt Right Now, and What Changes in 2027

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K-ETA's eligible-country list grew to 116 nations this week, and the number that decides whether you need to do anything before you fly to Seoul got less attention: only 22 of those countries still skip K-ETA entirely, and that arrangement has an expiration date. That's the gap the "full list" headlines don't spell out. K-ETA eligibility and K-ETA exemption are two different systems on two different clocks. Several outlets ran the 116-country number today , but the part that decides whether you're filling out a form this month is the smaller list, not the big one. What K-ETA Costs and How Long It Lasts For the 116 countries on the eligible list, K-ETA replaces a visa for short trips. Apply at k-eta.go.kr, upload a passport photo and passport scan, and pay a fee the official site listed at ₩10,000 (about $7) when I checked this week. Approval usually clears within 24 hours, though the site itself recommends applying at least 72 hours out in case yours does...
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