Seoul airport is the most popular airport for tourists to South Korea. It is the best place to buy a SIM card if you need Internet access instantly after arrival. In fact, Incheon airport is easy to navigate. You can find the booths selling SIM cards in mains terminals.
Keep reading this guide on buying a SIM card at Seoul Incheon Airport for tourists. Let’s start!
In this article
Though there are many options to stay connected while traveling Seoul, South Korea, getting a SIM card is highly recommended due to its outstanding advantage over others.
Use a South Korea SIM card for your trip, you will not have to pay high roaming charges or risk your private information while using public WiFi.
The coverage and speed of mobile data offered by a SIM card plan are stable and at good quality.
▶ Our recommendation:
Important Note: Make sure that your phone is unlocked so you can use it in South Korea. If your device is restricted to a certain telecom company or a certain country, you cannot use it with a Korean local SIM. Just call your cell carrier to have them unlock your phone.
You have 03 ways to buy a SIM card for Seoul travel. Below we explain each one quickly:
Simply pre-order the South Korea SIM card online.
First, you need to find a website offering travel SIM for South Korea. Research the plans they offer and choose the one that fits your needs. Place an order and make a payment.
Then you have 02 options to get your SIM card.
Benefits of getting South Korea SIM card online:
Pros: the easiest, stress-free way to buy SIM card, stable connection, good coverage, cheapest price, be prepared in advance
Cons: need to wait for SIM delivery, risk of delivery delays
This is the old-fashioned way to get a tourist SIM card in Korea. It allows you to have Internet access right upon arrival.
However, you need to queue to get the SIM at stores in the airports.
At Incheon airport, you can buy SIM cards from:
Simply walk through customs into the main arrivals terminal and you will see several different providers.
Requirements: To buy the SIM card for South Korea at Incheon International Airport, you are required to present your legal passport. This is what not many people like to do.
Pros: get instant Internet access after arrival
Cons: less plan options to choose, expensive than in-city or online options, must show passport for registration.
Important Note:
If you have not bought the SIM card online or at the airport yet, you can still buy it in the city center of Seoul.
There are convenience stores, phone shops, official stores of South Korean mobile internet providers that sell SIM cards for tourists. Just use Google Map to find.
Chances are, if you buy from convenience stores, you may need to prepare the SIM removal tool because staff there will not support you doing it. But, if you buy from stores of network carriers, staff may help you do so.
Location: find on Google map.
Opening hours: vary by stores, but often not 24/24
Requirements: passport, unlocked phones
Pros: cheaper than buying at airport
Cons: registration with passport, need to find and go to the store, risk of language barriers
Pro Tip:
Need to know: It is better for you to understand some words we use in this article so you get the full idea of the author:
SK Telecom booth is located at Terminal 1: in front of the arrival exits D and E or airport exits 9 and 10. Arriving at the SK Telecom stand, you need to choose a number so that other people cannot jump the queue.
There, the staff will ask about your trip’s duration and whether you want a physical SIM card or virtual eSIM. He/she will not ask about how much data you will need because all plans of SK Telecom are unlimited data.
Location: Terminal 1
Opening hours: 24/24
Plan validity: range from 1 to 30 days
Note: SK Telecom provides data-only SIM card plans.
Buying SK Telecom SIM cards, you can get a South Korean phone number (with +82), you cannot top-up the SIM to reply to SMS or make phone calls.
KT South Korea is the 2nd largest mobile carrier in South Korea. It has the best 5G NR in comparison with others.
KT South Korea has 2 booths at Seoul-Incheon airport.
Location:
Opening hours: 6 am – 11pm (if your flight lands out of these hours, you cannot buy in stores at airports)
Plans: KT offers 2 types of plans for tourists that are data-only and data + calls + SMS. However, the latter comes with extra fees, but incoming calls and SMS are free.
Plan validity: from 5 days to 90 days
Plan price: from 6600 KRW to 71500 KRW
KT plans are unlimited data (as advertisement), but unlike SK Telecom which restricts plans’ speed at 10 Mbps, KT throttles your speeds in a different way.
The first 10GB is with speed at full level + 2 GB of data with unrestricted speed.
After the high-speed data runs out, the speed will be throttled at 3 Mbps (rather slow).
LG U+ is the smallest mobile network operator in South Korea.
Luckily, its coverage and speed is still good.
The plans of LG U+ are even somehow better than the others (more generous).
LG U+ provides tourist SIM cards for travelers at Seoul-Incheon International Airport.
Location: there are 2 booths of LG U+ in Terminal 1 at Seoul Incheon airport:
Plan validity: from 5 to 60 days
Plan price: from 6600 KRW to 143000 KRW.
All plans of LG U+ are “unlimited data”.
Unlike SK Telecom, LG U+ does not restrict the speeds of its tourist SIM cards like SK Telecom does. First, you get 3 GB of high speed data (unrestricted) each day. After the high speed data runs out, you can still use data at 5 Mbps.
CU, a convenience store chain in South Korea, also sells SK Telecom and KT South Korea SIM cards (Korea Gold SIM cards), but does not sell LG U+ SIM cards. For SK telecom, the plan options are only 5-day options. For KT South Korea, there are 2 options (7 and 15 days).
Location: CU convenience store is located on the 1st floor (on the same floor where SK Telecom stands are)
What to prepare: passport, cash (Korean Won for buying in cash)
Pros: South Korea SIM cards sold in CU convenience stores provide “unlimited” data – which is not the cheapest price.
Cons: need to queue in lines (possibly), passport registration, expensive than buying online, less options to choose from
▶ Our recommendation:
To buy South Korea SIM card at Seoul-Incheon International airport, customers need to prepare:
The process of registering will take about 1-2 minutes
▶ Our recommendation: To avoid this registration scheme, you can consider buying an eSIM for South Korea. This can be done online before departure or after arrival.
Factors to consider before buying a SIM card at Incheon Airport:
Here are packages of SK Telecom at Seoul airport:
| Data | Validity | Price |
| Unlimited | 1 day | 6600 KRW |
| Unlimited | 3 days | 18 000 KRW |
| Unlimited | 5 days | 27 500 KRW |
| Unlimited | 10 days | 38 500 KRW |
| Unlimited | 20 days | 60 500 KRW |
| Unlimited | 30 days | 71 500 KRW |
Note: SK Telecom often restricts the speed of its plans at 10 Mbps.
Here are 10 plans of KT Telecom at Incheon airport:
| Data | Validity | Price |
| 10 GB + 2 GB | 1 day | 6600 KRW (offline only) |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (6 GB) | 3 days | 18 000 KRW (offline only) |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (10 GB) | 5 days | 27 500 KRW |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (14 GB) | 7 days | 33 500 KRW |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (20 GB) | 10 days | 38 500 KRW |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (30 GB) | 15 days | 47 300 KRW (online only) |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (40 GB) | 20 days | 60 500 KRW (offline only) |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (60 GB) | 30 days | 71 500 KRW |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (120 GB) | 60 days | 107 200 KRW |
| 10 GB + 2 GB/day (180 GB) | 90 days | 143 000 KRW |
Note: KT South Korea and LG U+ allow customers to add credit for making outgoing calls/texts.
Here are 8 plans of KT Telecom at Incheon airport:
| Data | Validity | Price |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (15 GB) | 5 days | 27 500 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (21 GB) | 7 days | 35 000 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (30 GB) | 10 days | 38 500 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (45 GB) | 15 days | 55 000 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (60 GB) | 20 days | 60 500 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (90 GB) | 30 days | 71 500 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (120 GB) | 40 days | 99 000 KRW |
| “Unlimited”, 3 GB/day (180 GB) | 60 days | 143 000 KRW |
As mentioned earlier, there are 03 major mobile network providers in South Korea:
Besides, there are also other mobile virtual network operators in South Korea.
Because you are going to travel Seoul, it is not necessary to worry about coverage and speed of the Internet here. All Internet providers offer good coverage and high speed data in the capital of South Korea.
Therefore, it does not matter which provider you choose, it matters now which provider has plans that suit your needs.
Here is a comparison of top 3 South Korean network providers you can refer:
Another alternative option to the traditional SIM Card at Incheon airport is buying an affordable eSIM data plan for South Korea. This will remove all hassle associated with getting a SIM card at the airport. You also do not need to change SIM cards.
This way is increasingly getting popular for travelers worldwide.
To buy eSIM for South Korea, you can choose Gigago – one of the best eSIM providers in the world. Plans of Gigago eSIM are considered the most diversifying in comparison with others.
For South Korea, Gigago offers multiple data plan options, starting from a 3-day plan with 1GB of data per day for $5.90 as their most minimal plan. They also have 5-day, 7-day, 10-day, 15-day, 20-day, and 30-day plans ranging from 1GB to unlimited data per day, with prices from $5.90 up to $106.50.
Once you have purchased the plan, you can activate it by scanning a QR code directly using your phone camera. It will automatically loads on your device. That’s simple.
► Visit South Korea eSIM plans from Gigago to get more details.
The main cellular carriers like SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+ have booths located in the arrival areas of both terminals 1 and 2 where you can purchase SIM cards. Some MVNO brands may also have kiosks set up near the cell phone carriers.
Prepaid SIM cards typically cost around $10-30 depending on the data included. Basic 1GB data packs start from around $10 while multi-gigabyte plans range from $20-30. Make sure to confirm included features like call/text allowances.
Usually just your passport is needed to verify your identity. The process takes only a few minutes. Some carriers may require you to fill a short registration form with your name, passport number etc. Credit card payments accept foreign cards but cash is also accepted.
There you have learnt how to buy a SIM card at Seoul Incheon Airport. As we discussed, buying at the airport can be fast but the cost is rather expensive in comparison with other options. You can consider buying eSIM as an alternative that offers all benefits of what you will get if buying at the airport but eliminates all hassles associated as well. Just make sure you prepare your best for the trip.
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