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Convert Korea Standard Time to Coordinated Universal Time

Instantly convert Korea Standard Time (KST) to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) with our free online calculator.

Reviewed by Christopher FloiedUpdated

Korea Standard Time

02:20:53 PM

Wed, Jun 24 (KST)

Coordinated Universal Time

05:20:53 AM

Wed, Jun 24 (UTC)

UTC is -9 hours from KST

Convert a Specific Time

KST

24-Hour Comparison

KSTUTC
12:00 AM3:00 PM(-1d)
1:00 AM4:00 PM(-1d)
2:00 AM5:00 PM(-1d)
3:00 AM6:00 PM(-1d)
4:00 AM7:00 PM(-1d)
5:00 AM8:00 PM(-1d)
6:00 AM9:00 PM(-1d)
7:00 AM10:00 PM(-1d)
8:00 AM11:00 PM(-1d)
9:00 AM12:00 AM
10:00 AM1:00 AM
11:00 AM2:00 AM
12:00 PM3:00 AM
1:00 PM4:00 AM
2:00 PM5:00 AM
3:00 PM6:00 AM
4:00 PM7:00 AM
5:00 PM8:00 AM
6:00 PM9:00 AM
7:00 PM10:00 AM
8:00 PM11:00 AM
9:00 PM12:00 PM
10:00 PM1:00 PM
11:00 PM2:00 PM

How to Convert Korea Standard Time to Coordinated Universal Time

Formula

To convert Korea Standard Time (KST) to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): Convert KST to UTC

About Korea Standard Time (KST)

Korea Standard Time (KST, IANA: Asia/Seoul) is the civil time of both the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea — since May 2018 when North Korea reverted to KST from its briefly used Pyongyang Time UTC+8:30 of 2015-2018), set at UTC+9:00 year-round (no DST). South Korea observed Daylight Saving Time briefly in 1948-1951 and again 1987-1988 during the Seoul Olympics (to facilitate evening TV broadcasts to North America), but discontinued it both times. KST is identical in offset to Japan Standard Time (JST), Yakutsk Time, Western Indonesian Time WIT (eastern Indonesia), and Palau Time (PWT) — creating a 'business-friendly' Northeast Asia zone of synchronized financial centers (Seoul-Tokyo). KST serves the Korean Peninsula's approximately 78 million residents (South Korea 52M + North Korea 26M). Major KST cities: Seoul (9.7M city, 25.7M metro — South Korean capital and the world's 5th-largest metro), Busan (3.3M — South Korea's 2nd-largest city + main port), Incheon (3M — Seoul Capital Area, location of Incheon International Airport ICN), Daegu (2.4M), Daejeon (1.5M), Pyongyang (3.2M — North Korean capital), Hamhung (770K — North Korea), Nampo (980K — North Korea). Affects: KRX (Korea Exchange) trading hours, K-pop industry music-release timing, Samsung + LG + Hyundai global headquarters operations.

About Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time, defined since 1972 as the time at the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) maintained by BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) in Sèvres, France. UTC is computed as a weighted average of approximately 400 atomic clocks at ~80 national metrology institutes (NIST in the US, NPL in UK, PTB in Germany, NICT in Japan, KRISS in Korea, etc.) per the formal definition in ITU-R Recommendation TF.460-6 (2002). UTC is functionally identical to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for civil purposes but differs slightly in its underlying timescale — UTC uses atomic seconds with occasional leap seconds inserted (announced by IERS Bulletin C ~6 months in advance, last leap second was December 31, 2016, and the system may be retired by 2035 per Resolution D of CGPM 2022). UTC is the standard for aviation (ICAO Annex 5), maritime navigation (IMO COLREGS), all internet protocols (NTP, PTP per IEEE 1588), all scientific publications, GPS / Galileo / GLONASS / BeiDou GNSS, and Universal Time on Wikipedia/Wikidata.

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