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Even with the famous 99.9 percent of literacy rate in South Korea, speaking English remains to be a problem to many residents of the country. This makes communication very difficult especially for tourists. Sometimes shop clerks, restaurant waiters, and even police officers cannot understand what a tourist is saying. The worst part, however, is some of them pretend to understand. In order to avoid any mix-up the best thing to do in planning a South Korean trip is to learn a few of the basic Korean words and sentences or to always carry around a Korean to English dictionary or language guide.
Another matter about South Korea that travelers should be forewarned is that the electricity in most hotels is 220 voltage and the plugs are rarely flat as it is in America. For a traveler's electronic items safety, the best thing to do is to inquire on the hotel about this before booking. Also, it is best to know that unlike in majority of the countries, the ATM's in Korea are not 24-hours open. They close at 11:30 in the evening and opens at 8:30 am. So it is best to withdraw some cash before going to that hotspot to party the night away.