The number of red days on the calendar is not the number of days you actually get off work. When a public holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, it is already a day off, so nothing is added, and only a substitute holiday gives a weekday back. Using the Hyuilmoa holiday data, I counted 2026 and 2027 on the same basis.
The two years in numbers
| Item | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Public holidays (incl. substitutes and election day) | 22 | 24 |
| Holidays that fall on Sat or Sun | 6 | 9 |
| Substitute holidays | 4 | 7 |
| Holidays on weekdays | 16 | 15 |
| Breaks of 3+ days | 10 | 10 |
| Mon-Fri weekdays minus holidays | 245 | 246 |
2027 has 2 more holidays but actually 1 fewer weekday off. Both years have the same 261 Monday-to-Friday weekdays, so the whole difference comes from which day of the week the holidays fall on.
Why this happens
The reason the holiday count went up is substitute holidays. In 2027, Seollal, Labor Day, Constitution Day, Liberation Day, National Foundation Day, Hangeul Day and Christmas Day all land on weekends, which creates 7 substitute holidays. A substitute holiday gives back a day taken by the weekend, so the number of holidays on the calendar rises but no new weekday off is created.
There are also days that are never given back, 2 in each year.
- 2026: Memorial Day (June 6, Saturday) and the last day of the Chuseok holiday (September 26, Saturday). Memorial Day is not eligible for a substitute holiday, and the Seollal and Chuseok holidays are not replaced when they fall on a Saturday.
- 2027: Memorial Day (June 6, Sunday) and one day of the Seollal holiday. The Seollal holiday overlaps Feb 6 (Sat) and 7 (Sun), but only one substitute holiday is created, on Feb 9 (Tue).
You would then expect the weekday days off to be the same, so why does 2026 have one more? Because of the June 3 nationwide local election day. Without the election day, both years have the same 15 weekday holidays. This site’s data does not yet include 2027 election days or temporary holidays, so the 2027 numbers may change once the government announces them.
How to use this in planning
- The number of breaks is the same, but the shape differs. Most of the 10 breaks in 2027 are Saturday-to-Monday three-day weekends with a substitute holiday attached. 2026 had long breaks such as Seollal (Feb 14-18, 5 days) and Chuseok (Sep 24-27, 4 days), while Chuseok 2027 is Sep 14-16 (Tue-Thu) and does not connect to a weekend.
- In 2027 the placement of leave matters. One day on the Monday before Chuseok (Sep 13) gives you 6 days in a row from Sep 11. You can find spots like this with your remaining leave in the leave planner.
- If you schedule by working days (project duration, daily pay and so on), look at the number of weekday holidays rather than the number of holidays. On a government-office basis, 2027 has 246 working days, one more than 2026. Company days off can differ under your work rules.
See every holiday and break by year on the 2027 holiday calendar, and the conditions for substitute holidays on the substitute holiday rules page.