Suneung Day in Korea, 19 November 2026: The 35-Minute Flight Ban, 10 a.m. Office and Bank Openings, Extra Subway Trains and a Tourist's Hour-by-Hour Plan

Last updated: 3 October 2026. The exam date, timetable and 2026 candidate numbers are confirmed by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE). The day-of measures for 2026 (the exact flight-control window, how many flights move, Seoul's extra trains, bank hours) have not been announced yet. Last year they came out between 21 October and 11 November, so every operational number below is the November 2025 figure, labelled as 2025. We will update this page as each 2026 announcement lands.

Korea's university entrance exam, the College Scholastic Ability Test (대학수학능력시험, Suneung or 수능 for short), is on Thursday 19 November 2026. About 550,000 people are registered to sit it on the same day, and every year the country rearranges its morning around them. Offices and banks open an hour late, the stock market shifts its whole session, the Seoul subway runs extra trains, and for 35 minutes in the early afternoon no aircraft takes off anywhere in Korea.

None of this will ruin your trip, but three or four of these measures change what a visitor should book, and when. This page is the practical version: the times, last year's numbers, and your own day, hour by hour. For why the exam matters this much, and the cheering squads, taffy and superstitions around it, read our explainer Korea's Exam Day: Why Planes Stop for Suneung first.

Sleeping next to a test site? School cheering squads start before 07:00: Loop Quiet 2 reusable earplugs on AmazonAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Quick Guide: Suneung Day 2026 for Travellers

What is confirmed for 2026, and what is still to come

Two kinds of information decide your day, and they arrive months apart.

Confirmed now. KICE (한국교육과정평가원, the agency that writes and runs the exam) published its basic plan for the 2027 academic-year exam on 31 March 2026: the exam is on 19 November 2026 and results go out on 11 December. Its detailed plan followed at the end of June. Registration closed in early September, and on 8 September KICE reported 551,864 registered candidates: 355,391 current high-school seniors (64.4%), 173,706 graduates (31.5%) and 22,767 others, mostly people who passed the high-school equivalency exam (검정고시). Non-current students together (196,473, 35.6%) are the most since the 2004 exam and the highest share in 31 years, according to the private academy Jongro Academy (종로학원).

Not out yet. The operational measures are announced fresh each year, close to the date. In 2025 the sequence was:

• 21 October 2025: the Ministry of Education (교육부) reported the government's exam-day support plan to the Cabinet: 10:00 office starts, extra metropolitan subway trains, emergency vehicles, noise controls and the flight pause.
• 30 October: the Korea Exchange announced the shifted trading hours.
• 11 November: Seoul City published its transport plan (extra trains, buses, free rides), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부) published the exact flight-control window and the number of flights moved, and the Korea Federation of Banks (은행연합회) announced bank hours.

If the 2026 calendar follows the same pattern, expect the national plan and the trading hours in the second half of October and the flight list around 16–17 November, two or three days before the exam. The advice below works without waiting for it.

The flight ban: what it means at Incheon and Gimpo

During the English section's listening test, which runs for about 25 minutes from 13:10, Korea stops aircraft noise. In 2025 the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport set the control window at 13:05 to 13:40, five minutes either side of the listening test. During those 35 minutes:

• No aircraft may take off anywhere in Korea, except emergency and urgent flights.
• Aircraft already in the air must stay above 3 km and wait, so arrivals are held rather than landed.
• Drones and ultralight aircraft are banned from flying.

That shifted 140 flights in 2025: 65 international and 75 domestic. The year before, 2024, it was 156 (58 international, 98 domestic). The ministry tells airlines to notify passengers of changes in advance, and asks travellers flying that day to check their departure time.

What it looked like on the ground in 2025, as reported from Gimpo's domestic terminal: departures scheduled between about 12:50 and 13:10 showed "delayed" on the boards and left roughly 20 minutes late, and flights from Jeju due into Gimpo around 13:10 were pushed back to about 14:00.

What to do with this:

1. If you have not booked yet, avoid any flight scheduled to depart or land between about 12:45 and 13:45 on 19 November. Morning or late-afternoon flights are unaffected.
2. If you already hold a ticket in that window, you do not need to rebook. Airlines reschedule the flight for you and tell you. Expect a delay of roughly 20 to 60 minutes and plan any onward train, tour or hotel check-in with that slack.
3. If you are connecting at Incheon, a held arrival can squeeze a short self-transfer. Give yourself at least an extra hour that day if you booked separate tickets.
4. Drone users: the ban covers you, and it is enforced. Do not fly that afternoon.

You might like: Korea e-Arrival Card vs K-ETA — the other paperwork that decides how fast you get out of the airport.

The morning: a quiet city with a late start

The exam begins at 08:40 and candidates must be in their seats by 08:10. Everything in the morning is built to protect that 08:10.

Offices and banks open late. The government asks public offices and large companies to start work at 10:00, an hour later than usual, so commuters do not compete with candidates for roads and trains. Seoul City moves its own offices and district offices to 10:00. In 2025 banks followed: the Korea Federation of Banks set branch hours at 10:00 to 17:00 instead of the usual 09:00 to 16:00, with a note that branches in airports, industrial parks and some other locations set their own hours. For a visitor, the practical point is money: if you planned to exchange cash at a bank branch first thing, it will not open before 10:00. Airport exchange counters and private exchange shops are the fallback; our Korea payment guide covers cards and transit passes so you need less cash in the first place.

The stock market shifts too. In 2025 the Korea Exchange ran the regular session from 10:00 to 16:30 instead of 09:00 to 15:30, and the alternative exchange Nextrade dropped its 08:00 pre-market session for the day. This will not affect your trip, but it is the clearest sign of how seriously the morning is taken.

More trains, not fewer. The national plan adds metropolitan subway trains during the candidates' travel window, 06:00 to 08:10. Seoul City's own 2025 plan added 29 extra subway runs, concentrated between 06:00 and 10:00 to cover the late office crowd as well, and kept 16 spare trains ready in case of breakdowns. City and village buses kept their shortest intervals from 06:00 to 08:10 and again from 18:00 to 21:00. The subway is the best way to move around that morning, and it is less crowded than a normal Thursday at 08:30.

Free rides for candidates, and police cars. Seoul stationed 646 public and private vehicles near stations and major junctions in 2025 to give late candidates free rides, with more than 2,200 staff and volunteers on duty. Police do the same nationwide. In Incheon alone in 2025, police put 564 people (328 officers and 236 volunteers) and 109 patrol cars and motorcycles around 63 test sites, and drove or escorted 7 candidates who were late or at the wrong school. If you see a squad car with its lights on and a teenager in the back at 08:05, that is what is happening.

The streets next to schools. In 2025 there were 1,310 test sites nationwide, 228 of them in Seoul. Around each one, cars other than public transport are kept out of the last 200 m before the gate, drivers are asked not to sound their horns, and noisy construction stops. During the listening test, buses and trains passing nearby slow down. Taxis are fine elsewhere, but a taxi to a hotel or station next to a high school between 07:00 and 08:10 can be badly slowed, and some drivers will drop you a block away.

One more thing about schools: if your hotel or guesthouse is next to one, the underclassmen cheering squads arrive with drums and chants from about 06:30, and the gate stays loud until the doors close at 08:10. Foam earplugs from any Korean convenience store are the cheap fix; the reusable pair linked under the photo at the top of this page is only worth it if you will use it again on flights and night buses.

Your day, hour by hour

The exam timetable is the clock everything else runs on. The slots below are the 2025 ones, which have not changed in recent years; check KICE's notice before the day if your timing is tight:

In short: subway rather than taxis until about 09:00, a usually crowded sight in the quiet late morning, no flights in the early afternoon, and dinner booked ahead if you will be in a student area.

You might like: Seoul Subway Last Train Times — if the exam-night crowds keep you out late.

The day before, the week after, and the weather

The day before. Candidates go to their assigned test site for the preliminary call-up (예비소집), usually the day before the exam, to collect their admission ticket and find their room. You may see crowds of students outside schools on Wednesday afternoon.

The cold. Koreans have a word for the cold snap that seems to arrive on exam day, 수능 한파 (Suneung hanpa). It is a running joke more than a forecast, but mid-November mornings in Seoul are often close to freezing. Dress for an early start if you plan to watch the gate scene.

The evening and the weeks after. Once the exam ends, Korea's cinemas, theme parks, aquariums and observation decks run discounts for candidates who show their paper admission ticket (수험표). In the 2025 cycle cinema chains charged a flat ₩7,000 and some attractions cut prices by half. Those offers make the places cheaper for candidates and busier for everyone, from late November into December. Our Suneung explainer lists last year's offers in detail.

Schools as landmarks. Many test sites are old, well-known schools; some in Seoul are more than a century old. Our guide to Korea's 100-year high schools explains which ones and why their names still matter.

Who should change plans, and who should not

Most visitors can ignore Suneung entirely. A short checklist:

• Change plans if you have an unbooked flight that would land or depart between about 12:45 and 13:45, or an early-morning road transfer that passes a high school.
• Adjust if you planned to change money at a bank branch before 10:00, or to fly a drone that afternoon.
• Book ahead for dinner in Hongdae, Gangnam or other student areas on exam night.
• Do nothing if you are spending the day on the subway, in palaces, markets, museums or shops. Those run normally, and the late start makes the morning easier, not harder.

If you want to see the gate scene, the cheering is loudest between about 06:30 and 08:00. Stand back from the entrance, do not block the road and do not film candidates up close; the families are under real strain.

You might like: What Are SKY Universities in Korea? — the three names this exam is aimed at.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When is Suneung 2026? Thursday 19 November 2026. It is the exam for the 2027 academic year, so Korean sources call it the 2027학년도 수능. Results are released on 11 December 2026.

Q: Do flights really stop in Korea on exam day? Yes. In 2025 all takeoffs were stopped from 13:05 to 13:40, aircraft in the air held above 3 km, and drones were banned. That moved 140 flights (65 international, 75 domestic). The 2026 window is announced a few days before the exam.

Q: Will my flight be cancelled? Very unlikely. Flights in the window are rescheduled, not cancelled, and airlines notify passengers. Expect a delay of roughly 20 minutes to an hour if your flight was due between about 12:45 and 13:45.

Q: Are banks and shops open on Suneung day? Shops, restaurants, museums and attractions open normally. Bank branches opened an hour late in 2025, at 10:00, and closed at 17:00; airport branches and some others keep their own hours. Government offices also start at 10:00.

Q: Is the subway busier on exam day? No. It runs extra trains (29 more runs in Seoul in 2025) and office workers start later, so the 08:00 rush is lighter than usual. Roads near schools are the problem, not trains.

Q: Is it worth going to see the exam-day crowds? If you are nearby anyway, yes: the cheering at school gates before 08:10 is a scene you will not see anywhere else. Keep your distance, do not block the entrance and do not film candidates' faces up close.

Sources

• Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (한국교육과정평가원): 2027학년도 대학수학능력시험 시행기본계획, 31 March 2026 (exam date, results date); 시행세부계획, 30 June 2026; 응시원서 접수 결과, 8 September 2026 (551,864 candidates and breakdown). Reported by Herald Kyungje, Herald Kyungje and Financial News.
• Ministry of Education (교육부): 2026학년도 대학수학능력시험 당일 안정적 시험 시행을 위한 지원대책, reported to the Cabinet on 21 October 2025 (554,174 candidates, 1,310 test sites, 10:00 office start, subway trains 06:00–08:10, 200 m vehicle limit, noise and military measures). Reported by Aju News.
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부): exam-day aircraft control, 11 November 2025 (13:05–13:40, 140 flights: 65 international, 75 domestic; 3 km holding; drone ban). Reported by Herald Kyungje. 2024 comparison (156 flights) from Korea JoongAng Daily.
• Gimpo Airport on exam day 2025 (delays and held arrivals): Segye Ilbo, 13 November 2025.
• Seoul Metropolitan Government (서울시): 2026학년도 수능 교통 종합대책, Seoul Media Hub, November 2025 (29 extra subway runs, 16 spare trains, bus intervals, 646 vehicles, 228 test sites, 114,158 candidates in Seoul). mediahub.seoul.go.kr.
• Korea Federation of Banks (은행연합회) bank hours on exam day 2025: Newsis, 12 November 2025.
• Korea Exchange trading hours on exam day 2025 (announced 30 October 2025): Herald Kyungje, 12 November 2025.
• Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency (인천경찰청) exam-day deployment 2025: Kyeonggi Ilbo, 13 November 2025.