Phone Numbers in Korea

The phone system here is odd to me, and very confusing. For example, you must always dial the area code if you are making a call from a cell phone, but only must do so from a land line if you are calling a different area code, or a cell phone.

Home phone numbers are either 7 or 8 digits, preceded by a 3-digit area code. In the old system, all home numbers were 7 digits, but have recently been changed over to 8-digit numbers. People who were assigned a 7-digit number many years ago can keep that number until they choose to upgrade, or change their residence.

Two examples of land-line numbers:
(053) 785-9191
(053) 7878-9191
**053 is the Daegu area.

Cell phones all have a 3-digit area code plus an 8-digit number. The area code for all cell phones in this area is 010 (maybe all of Korea too, I don’t know about other areas). You actually have to dial zero-one-zero, which I found odd when I arrived, as I think of zero as a place-holder, not really a number. Here it’s a number, and must be dialed.

So, here’s a cell phone example:
(010) 5557-5806

From my land-line at work, there’s also an additional step. After I dial the 3-digit area code, and the 7 or 8 digit number, I must press “Send”, like I would on a cell phone. If you don’t, you get horrible beeping, or it will automatically try to add the 053 area code before the numbers you dialed. It took a long time to get used to dialing this many numbers.