KST to PST Converter (Korea Time to Pacific Time)

Mid-January 2026: PST is 17 hours behind KST. Mid-July 2026: PDT is 16 hours behind KST.

Seoul to California is one of the longest time gaps people schedule every day. Korea Standard Time is UTC+9 all year; Pacific Time is UTC−08:00 in winter (PST) and UTC−07:00 in summer (PDT), which gives gaps of 17 and 16 hours.

From Korea, the Pacific answer is nearly always the previous date. A Wednesday morning meeting in Seoul is still Tuesday afternoon or evening in Los Angeles, a fact that matters when you promise a document "by the end of the day".

How to use this tool

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

Formula

PST time = KST time − (KST UTC offset) + (PST 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 KST on March 2, 2026 = 4:00 PM PST (previous day)

6:30 PM KST on August 3, 2026 = 2:30 AM PDT

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.

KST to PST time table

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

PST to KST time table

Each hour in Pacific Time with the matching Korea Standard 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 KST and PST:

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

Korean working hours and the Pacific afternoon

Korean office hours, roughly 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., line up with 4 p.m. on the previous day to 1 a.m. in Los Angeles in winter, and with 5 p.m. on the previous day to 2 a.m. in summer. Only the early Korean morning overlaps with the Pacific afternoon, so cross-Pacific teams hold their calls at the start of the Korean day.

Sending a file just before you leave the office in Seoul puts it in a California inbox at the beginning of that person's afternoon, so the recipient has the evening to respond and you may find an answer when you arrive next morning.

Booking from Korea for the West Coast

Restaurants, concert venues, medical offices and universities in California quote local time, not Korean time. Convert the time when you book, and remember that the booking date may fall on the previous day in your own calendar.

Telephone support lines in the US open in the Korean evening and night, and many Pacific-time customer centers are staffed during US business hours, which means roughly 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Korea; use a chat option when one exists.