Although, South Korea’s reputation for internet censorship is not as notorious as the UAE or China. However, the national culture emphasizes respect for authority and other Confucian values. Consequently, some authoritarian measures have plagued the country for decades, and they reach internet access.
So if you are using the internet from South Korea and want to guarantee your freedom as a digital citizen, you’ll need an additional tool–the VPN.
VPNs are digital platforms that perform two services for their users: total traffic encryption and IP address spoofing. The encryption scrambles the data stream that carries your digital activities so that no third party (governments included) can make sense of anything you do. The IP address masking hides your physical location, so third parties can’t tell where you are.
This second service has exciting and beneficial effects when immersed in a censored internet environment. VPNs allow you to bypass country-wide restrictions that your government imposes, to use the internet as a free user. Likewise, it also helps you retain access to services such as US Netflix, the BBC, or others while traveling away from the US or the UK.
This article tells you all about the best five VPNs to use from within South Korea if you want to retain the freedom and versatility that your internet experience affords you at home.
Top South Korean VPNs – Quick list
If you’re in a hurry and can’t manage to read the complete guide, here we shortlist our top five choices. Readers interested in learning more about each network can keep reading and find extensive information later in this guide.
- ExpressVPN: The best VPN you can use in South Korea is secure, private, and fast, and it unblocks almost every streaming service out there.
- Private Internet Access: As the name suggests, prioritizing privacy is a VPN with an extensive server network that keeps no logs.
- NordVPN: With more options than almost every VPN in the industry and state-of-the-art technology, NordVPN is sure to satisfy.
- Surfshark: A young but disruptive service in the VPN world does the trick of meeting the highest standards at the lowest prices.
- IPVanish: Good service and privacy, fast connections, ten concurrent devices.
The five best VPN vendors for South Korea in 2023 – Detailed list
The VPN market is overcrowded because it has exploded over the last few years. Every vendor claims to be the best, but only a handful can meet their promises. With so many options online, how can you choose the one that delivers your desired features, especially if you are in South Korea?
The bad news is that such an activity needs much work, time, expertise, and resources. However, we have good news too. According to the following criteria, we have already done the job and picked the best five VPN services in South Korea.
- The ability to bypass the internet restrictions unique to South Korea.
- Connections that are both fast and reliable.
- Solid encryption with some additional and useful features.
- Adhesion to a strict no-logging policy.
- App and client availability for most devices and operating systems.
Let’s start with the top VPNs for South Korea.
1. ExpressVPN
Ou top pick VPN for any online activity in or outside South Korea. It has long range of servers and offers 30-day money-back guarantee to its users.
3,000+ servers in 94 countries 
AES-256-bit encryption 
Web leak protection 
TrustedServer technology 
P2P optimized servers 
Kill switch 
Zero-logs policy 
Allows 5 simultaneous devices 
30-day money-back guarantee Pros
- Stealthy security
- Includes standalone smart DNS
- 24/7 support via live chat
Cons
- Bit expensive
Very few VPNs on the internet can hold a candle to ExpressVPN. It’s been around for a long time and has kept the highest security and privacy standards, thus achieving credibility. So, for whatever reason you need a premium VPN, ExpressVPN will probably fulfill your needs in style.
The ExpressVPN server network includes more than 3,000 servers in 94 countries. They are all swift, reliable, and RAM-only, which means that all the server data is highly volatile; nothing ever gets saved into a physical hard drive. Instead, everything fades away into the digital ether once a server is rebooted (every week or two).
Thanks to its versatile network, ExpressVPN can unlock many video streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, or Netflix.
The provider implements the industry-standard AES-256 encryption to protect user data. Moreover, its prominent security features include perfect forward secrecy and a kill switch.
Besides, the customer support at ExpressVPN includes 24/7 live chat.