YourKoreaLife is an independent publication about living in, travelling to, and understanding South Korea. Everything published here is written by people who are actually in the country, not researched at a distance.
The site was founded in 2020 by Sven den Otter, a Dutch software developer who arrived in Korea on a working holiday visa and never left. He holds an F6 residency visa, and has spent five years navigating the systems he writes about: immigration, banking, housing, healthcare, and the slower work of understanding how the country actually functions for foreigners.
Over the years, other writers based in Korea have contributed to the site, covering areas from expat life and teaching English to food, language, and travel. We're actively building that contributor base. If you live in Korea and want to write, the door is open.
The gap we're filling: most Korea content online is either written by short-term visitors, produced by tourism boards with an agenda, or last updated in 2019. YourKoreaLife is written by residents who deal with Korea as a daily reality. That's the only credential that matters for the kind of content we produce.
Visas, banking, housing, healthcare, language, bureaucracy. The practical information you need to actually live here, written by people who have been through it.
Honest guides to destinations, festivals, and experiences, written with the perspective of someone who lives nearby rather than someone on a two-week itinerary.
Korea has 4,000 years of recorded history and a contemporary culture that moves faster than anywhere else on earth. We write about both, with context you won't get from a highlights reel.
Korea changes fast. Visa rules shift. Prices change. Restaurants close. Articles carry a last-updated date at the top. If something is wrong or out of date, the contact form works and we'll fix it.
Fill in our contact form for editorial questions, partnership enquiries, or writing for YourKoreaLife.