Does Korea Have Bidets? Yes — Korean Bidet Buttons, Brands and Rentals Explained

Does Korea have bidets? Yes — and not as a luxury. In Gallup Korea's 2025 survey of household appliances, 55% of Korean households said they have an electronic bidet seat (비데, bide), up from 50% in 2023. That puts the bidet on the same list as the rice cooker and the water purifier: a normal home appliance, not a hotel extra.

The practical questions follow: where you will meet one, what the Korean buttons do, whether to flush the paper, and whether you can take one home. This guide answers each from Korean sources.

Coway Bidetmega 400S — the Korean market leader's 120V seat built for US bathroomsAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Last updated: 14 October 2026. The ownership figure, rental prices and product specifications were checked that day against Gallup Korea, Coway's Korean online store, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's public-toilet rule and Korean news reports. Sources are at the end.

Quick Guide: Bidets in Korea at a Glance

Korean Bidet Buttons: What Each One Does

Panels and remotes differ by brand and model, but the vocabulary repeats. These are the words you will see, roughly in the order you need them.

Two things to know before you press anything:

• Most units will not spray while you are standing. Korean seats use a seat sensor (착좌 감지), so a curious press at the sink usually does nothing. "Usually" is the honest word — an old or faulty unit can surprise you, so test from a seated position.
• Start at the lowest pressure. The setting is whatever the last person left, and the top of the range is genuinely strong.

One more trap that has nothing to do with the bidet: the flush is often not on the panel at all. It may be a wall button, a lever on the tank, a sensor, or a floor pedal. A button with a musical note plays running-water noise for privacy; it does not flush either.

How Common Are Bidets in Korea? The Numbers

Gallup Korea asks a nationwide sample about appliance ownership every two years. Its 2025 round — 5,251 people aged 13 and over, interviewed face to face between March and July — produced this ranking for kitchen, environmental and health appliances:

The bidet sits above the coffee machine and more than twice as high as the dishwasher. In 2023 the same survey put it at 50%, so it is still growing.

Income matters a lot. Gallup's 2025 breakdown shows bidet ownership at 27% in households earning under ₩3 million a month (about $2,100), 51% in the ₩4 million bracket and 68% in households earning ₩6 million or more. In practice, that means a newer apartment in Seoul is very likely to have one, while an older 빌라 (villa, low-rise flats), a studio rental or a 고시원 (goshiwon, tiny budget room) may not.

Where You Will Actually Meet One

Coverage is uneven in a predictable way. None of this is an official count — it is what to expect.

• Hotels and serviced apartments: very likely from mid-range up, and usually a full-feature seat. If it matters to you, look at the bathroom photos before booking; a visible side panel or remote is the giveaway. Our guide to what a Seoul hotel costs per night helps with the budget side.
• Private homes and Airbnbs: better than half, skewed to newer apartments.
• Department stores, malls and big bookshops: the most reliable public bidets in the country.
• Subway stations and parks: usually a plain toilet. Newer and rebuilt stations are better.
• Cafés and restaurants: a coin toss. A small single-toilet café often has none.
• Jjimjilbang and saunas: frequently, because the whole business is about bathing — see our jjimjilbang guide.

For finding toilets at all — the open-access building rule, the 10-minute subway re-entry rule and squat toilets — read EpicKor's guide to public toilets in Korea. This page is about the bidet itself.

Can You Flush Toilet Paper in Korea?

Yes, in public toilets you should. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety amended the enforcement decree of the Public Toilets Act in 2017, and from 1 January 2018 public toilet stalls were required to be 휴지통 없는 화장실 — bin-free. Used paper goes in the toilet. The small bin in a women's stall is a 위생용품 수거함, for sanitary products only.

Three honest caveats:

• Compliance is not perfect. Some older buildings kept their bins. If a stall has a bin and a sign telling you to use it, follow the sign.
• Old private plumbing is a different matter. A guesthouse or older home may ask you not to flush paper. Again, the sign in front of you wins.
• Never flush wet wipes, paper towels or sanitary products anywhere. The 2018 rule is about toilet paper only.

Why Koreans Rent Bidets: ₩23,400 a Month

This is the part most English pages miss. In Korea, a bidet is often a subscription.

On Coway's Korean online store, the basic 더블케어 비데 (Double Care Bidet, model BAS37) is listed at ₩23,400 a month as of October 2026 (about $16), and the Plus model with an auto-opening lid at ₩28,900. Those are the listed monthly fees before card or auto-payment discounts; the contract length and the care plan you choose change the final figure. The price buys:

• the seat, installed;
• a 프리마이크로 필터 (pre-micro filter) replaced every four months;
• a care visit every two or four months from a 코디 (kodi, Coway's service worker), or, on some plans, self-care, where you change the filter yourself.

Look at the hero photograph again. In 2007 the same company's LooLoo seat rented for ₩24,000 a month after a ₩100,000 registration fee. Nearly two decades later, the listed monthly fee is roughly the same in won — which tells you how central rental is to the way this product is sold.

Why rent a bathroom fixture? Because of the filter. An electronic bidet takes mains water, warms it and sprays it. Everything unpleasant that can go wrong happens downstream of a filter nobody changed — and a neglected unit looks exactly like a maintained one. Rental turns the filter change into a visit that just arrives. It is the same business model Coway built for water and air purifiers; our Coway vs Winix guide explains how that rental system works.

Can a foreigner rent one? Rental contracts generally run for years and need a Korean bank account or card and an identity check, so this is for residents, not visitors. If you are moving to Korea, ask your landlord first — many apartments already have one installed.

Korean Bidet Brands: Coway, Novita and SK magic

Coway (코웨이). Founded in 1989 and the company that turned appliance rental into a Korean habit after the 1997 financial crisis. Its bidet line is branded 룰루 (LooLoo). According to Korean press reports, Woongjin Coway launched LooLoo in June 2002 with the bidet industry's first television campaign. By early 2003 the ads had settled on the line 닦지 말고 씻자 — "Don't wipe, let's wash" — and four years later the same idea was still on the store sign in the photograph above as 닦지말고 씻으세요. That campaign is the point at which the bidet stopped being a luxury and became something you could rent.

Novita (노비타). Founded in November 1984 as 한일가전 (Hanil Electronics), an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, with its head office and factory in Cheonan. A private-equity fund bought it in 2006, and in December 2011 it agreed to sell Novita to a Korean subsidiary of Kohler, the American plumbing company. That is why you see "Kohler Novita" on Korean and overseas listings. If you remember "a Samsung bidet", this is most likely the brand you mean.

SK magic (SK매직). A major rental competitor in purifiers and bidets. In July 2025 the company renamed itself SK Intellix (SK인텔릭스), so you may see either name on Korean rental sites; SK magic remains the product brand.

Others — including Daelim's bathroom brand and Cuckoo — also sell bidets, but Coway is the name you will see on the most panels.

Are Korean Bidets Hygienic?

The hardware addresses most of the concern: many current Korean models have stainless-steel nozzles that retract when not in use and run a self-cleaning rinse. Coway's Double Care models list a stainless twin nozzle and a four-step self-cleaning cycle. The variable is maintenance.

• Rinse the nozzle. Use the 노즐세척 button or self-clean cycle regularly, especially on a seat you own.
• Change the filter on schedule. Four months on the Coway models above. Write the date somewhere that is not the bathroom.
• Go easy on pressure and frequency. A bidet is a rinse, not a scrub. If you have sensitive skin, low pressure, lukewarm water and a brief wash are the sensible settings.

Can You Take a Korean Bidet Home? The 220V Problem

This is where visitors go wrong. Korea runs on 220V at 60Hz. Coway's Korean Double Care seat is rated 220V / 60Hz with a rated power consumption of 1,550W on its official spec sheet. Plug that into a 120V American outlet and it will not work properly; run it through a travel converter and you are feeding a high-wattage water heater through a device not built for it. Do not carry a Korean-market electronic seat home to North America.

The fix is to buy the export model. Coway sells US versions — the Bidetmega 400S and 500S — built for American outlets; the 400S's spec sheet gives 120V / 60Hz. That is why they are the ones linked on this page. In Europe, the UK and Australia the voltage is closer (230–240V) but the mains frequency is 50Hz, not Korea's 60Hz, so check the manufacturer's rating rather than assuming it will work.

And a rental seat in a Korean flat belongs to the rental company, not to you or the landlord. For other Korean electronics, our guide to buying electronics in Seoul covers the voltage question more broadly.

You might like: Coway vs Winix: Which Korean Air Purifier Fits Your Home

What Not to Do

• Do not assume the largest button flushes. It may be the rear wash.
• Do not buy a Korean-market 220V seat for a 120V home.
• Do not buy an electronic seat without an outlet near the toilet. A non-electric attachment or a portable sprayer is the honest alternative.

Where the Electronic Bidet Came From

The electronic bidet seat was developed in Japan by TOTO in 1980. Korea's makers followed, and the product spread in the 2000s on the back of television advertising and, above all, rental. Japan made the device famous; Korea made it something you pay for by the month and someone else maintains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does Korea have bidets?

Yes. 55% of Korean households own an electronic bidet seat, according to Gallup Korea's 2025 survey, up from 50% in 2023. Mid-range and better hotels usually have one; ordinary subway and park toilets usually do not.

Q: Do Koreans use bidets or toilet paper?

Both. The bidet washes; most people still finish with paper or the warm-air dryer. Korean bathrooms with a bidet are still stocked with paper.

Q: What is the difference between the 세정 and 비데 buttons?

세정 (sejeong) is the rear wash and the main function. 비데 (bide), labelled 여성세정 on current Coway models, is the front wash: aimed further forward and gentler. 정지 (jeongji) stops either.

Q: Can you flush toilet paper in Korea?

Yes, in public toilets. Stalls have been bin-free by rule since 1 January 2018. The small bin in women's stalls is for sanitary products. Never flush wet wipes or paper towels.

Q: How much does it cost to rent a bidet in Korea?

Coway lists its basic Double Care Bidet at ₩23,400 a month and the Plus model at ₩28,900 (October 2026), before discounts. The fee includes filter changes every four months and optional care visits. Contracts run for years and need a Korean account, so rental suits residents rather than visitors.

Q: Can I buy a Korean bidet in Korea and use it in the US?

Not a Korean-market model: it is rated 220V/60Hz. Buy the export version instead — Coway sells its Bidetmega 400S and 500S for US homes, and the 400S is rated 120V/60Hz.

Q: Is Novita a Samsung brand?

It started as one: Novita was founded in 1984 as Hanil Electronics, a Samsung Electronics affiliate. Since a 2011 deal it has belonged to Kohler, sold as Kohler Novita.

Sources

• Gallup Korea, Market 70 2025: ownership of 18 kitchen, environmental and health appliances — 55% bidet ownership, the appliance ranking, the income breakdown (27% / 51% / 68%), and survey dates and sample.
• EBN, reporting Gallup Korea's 2023 survey — bidet ownership passing 50% in 2023.
• Coway, 더블케어 비데 (BAS37) product page and 더블케어 비데 플러스 (BAS38) — monthly prices of ₩23,400 and ₩28,900 (checked 14 October 2026), a four-month filter, care every two or four months, 220V/60Hz rating, 1,550W and 1,100W, about 5kg.
• Korea.kr policy briefing on 휴지통 없는 화장실 — the 2017 decree amendment and bin-free public stalls from 1 January 2018.
• Kyunghyang Shinmun, February 2003 — the LooLoo launch in June 2002 with the industry's first TV advertising, and the "닦지 말고 씻자" slogan.
• Jaekyung Ilbo, December 2011 — Novita's November 1984 founding as Samsung Electronics affiliate Hanil Electronics, the 2006 private-equity purchase and the sale to Kohler's Cheonan subsidiary.
• Hankyung Magazine, July 2025 — SK magic renaming itself SK Intellix.
• Coway USA, Bidetmega 400S — the 120V/60Hz rating of the US model.
• Hotel, home and public-toilet coverage in "Where You Will Actually Meet One" is EpicKor's own observation, not an official statistic. Dollar conversions are approximate at about ₩1,450 to $1. Prices and model lineups change; confirm the current fee and specification before you sign or buy.