EST to KST Converter (Eastern Time to Korea Time)

Mid-January 2026: KST is 14 hours ahead of EST. Mid-July 2026: KST is 13 hours ahead of EDT.

Eastern Time covers New York, Washington, Atlanta, Miami and Toronto. Korea Standard Time (UTC+9) is used in all of South Korea and has had no daylight saving time since 1988, so only the US side of this pair moves its clocks.

Because Korea is more than half a day ahead, the Korean date is usually one day later: an evening call in New York lands on the next morning in Seoul. Check the date as well as the hour when you send a meeting invitation.

How to use this tool

1. Pick a date and time in EST. The date matters when daylight saving time is in force.
2. Read the matching time in KST, with both UTC offsets.
3. Use "Use current time" for now, or the tables below for a quick look.

Formula

KST time = EST time − (EST UTC offset) + (KST UTC offset)

The converter looks up both UTC offsets for the actual instant in the saved IANA time zone rules, so daylight saving changes are included automatically.

Example

Worked with the saved rules:

9:00 AM EST on March 2, 2026 = 11:00 PM KST

6:30 PM EDT on August 3, 2026 = 7:30 AM KST (next day)

Time difference through the year

The difference depends on the date when either place moves its clocks. These are the offsets on two reference days, from the saved IANA rules:

Clock changes in 2026

Between these dates the difference shifts by the size of the change.

EST to KST time table

Each hour in Eastern Time with the matching Korea Standard Time time in winter and summer (reference days in January and July).

KST to EST time table

Each hour in Korea Standard Time with the matching Eastern Time time in winter and summer (reference days in January and July).

Hours that work in both places

Hours (on the January reference day) that fall between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM in both EST and KST:

Check the summer column above when one of the places is on daylight saving time.

Scheduling between the US East Coast and Korea

The workable window is short. An 8 p.m. call in New York reaches Seoul at 10 a.m. (9 a.m. while EDT is in force), and a 7 a.m. start in Seoul is still the previous evening in New York. Teams that work across the pair usually alternate the burden: one week the Americans stay late, the next week the Koreans start early.

Write the date in both zones when you send an invitation, for example "Tuesday 8 p.m. New York / Wednesday 10 a.m. Seoul". A deadline that falls on a Friday in Korea is already Thursday evening in New York, which is the most common source of missed handoffs.

Holidays and the Korean calendar

Korean public holidays such as Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok follow the lunar calendar and move every year, usually into January–February and September–October. Offices and banks are closed for several days around them, so book a deadline only after checking the Korean calendar.

Seoul's workday also ends earlier on Eastern clocks than people expect: 6 p.m. in Seoul is 4 a.m. in New York during standard time, so there is no end-of-day catch-up call across the two cities.