Online School in South Korea: Seoul, Songdo, Pyeongtaek, and the Hours Between School and Hagwon

By Alfred Ouko, Founder · October 2026 · 10 min read

South Korea’s international families are concentrated in a handful of places. Seoul, home to Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK and the diplomatic community. Songdo, the planned international district in Incheon. Pyeongtaek, where USAG Humphreys sits beside a major Samsung semiconductor campus. Daejeon, with KAIST and the Daedeok research district. Busan, with its port and shipbuilding. And Jeju, where the Global Education City hosts several international schools. The international schools in these places are strong, but places are limited and Korean-national eligibility is restricted. Korean families who want an international qualification have often turned instead to stacked hagwon classes or to sending a child abroad. This guide is about a third option.

Who the families are

Three groups make up most of the interest we see. Foreign families posted to Korea by an employer, an embassy or the US military, who want a curriculum that will travel with them. Korean families, often in Seoul’s Gangnam or Bundang, who want a UK or US university option without giving up the Korean school. And Korean families who returned from years abroad and want to keep an English-medium track going. Each needs something slightly different, but the starting point is the same: a small number of examined subjects, taught live in English, that sit alongside whatever school the child already attends. A child on a two-year posting from the United States, for example, might keep AP courses going while attending a local or international school.

The gap, honestly described

Korea’s international and foreign schools, such as Seoul Foreign School and Chadwick International in Songdo, offer a full campus education, and families who can access them often should. But places are limited, and foreign-school rules restrict how many Korean-national children can enrol. The common alternatives each have a cost. Several hagwon classes stacked into the evening can leave learning fragmented. Jogi yuhak, sending a child abroad young, often means a family living apart for years. A live online school offers a coherent curriculum taught by one team, in the evening, at home. It also gives the family one point of contact for academic progress, rather than several hagwons each with its own homework.

The legal position

Compulsory education in Korea is nine years, six of elementary and three of middle school, for Korean-national children. During those years our advice is to keep the child enrolled in a Korean school and use Smartious as supplementary study. Foreign-national families, including those at USAG Humphreys, follow their own arrangements and should confirm them with their employer or the local office of education. For students at DoDEA schools at Humphreys, our classes can add AP or advanced Mathematics alongside. The Korean school gives a child the Korean record, Korean language and history, and the friendships of a local community, and none of that should be lost. Questions about any other arrangement belong with the Ministry of Education or your local office of education, and we would rather families ask them first.

Time zone and the evening slot

Korea is six hours ahead of Nairobi with no daylight saving. Our teaching day in Nairobi runs into the Korean afternoon and evening, roughly 3pm to 10pm, the same hours many students currently spend at hagwon. A student can take two or three subjects in that window without missing Korean school. Every lesson is recorded, so a late club activity or a family trip does not mean a lost lesson. Families in Pyeongtaek and Songdo often prefer the earlier part of the window; families in Gangnam, where school and hagwon run late, often prefer the later. We look at your child’s actual week before suggesting a group, because a sixth evening commitment helps nobody.

Subjects and exams

Popular choices include Mathematics and Further Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics and English, leading to Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level or Pearson Edexcel equivalents, with AP and the American curriculum for US-bound students. Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel examinations are sat at authorised exam centres, which families book; most are in Seoul, reachable by KTX from most cities, and centres are confirmed per family, per session. Students usually start with two subjects and add a third once the routine is settled. IGCSE subjects typically take two years, and A-Levels two more. From Busan, Daejeon or Gwangju, exam travel to Seoul is a day trip by KTX, and Jeju families fly. We plan registration and travel well ahead of each window.

When the Korean school is enough

A child aiming at a Korean university through the Suneung, and doing well at school, does not need a second curriculum; focused preparation in the Korean system serves that goal. We are not a campus, and families who want the full life of an international school should choose one if they can. Our value is narrower: a coherent international track at home, alongside the Korean school. We would rather tell a family that at the assessment than enrol a child who does not need us. Where we do help, it is usually because a family wants options in more than one country, and a single examined record to support them in the same application year.

South Korea’s international families and its globally minded Korean families share a problem: good international schools that are hard to get into, and alternatives that fragment learning or split families. A few live subjects in the evening, alongside the Korean school, solve much of it. If you would like to see how that would work for your child, book an assessment with us.

Frequently asked questions

Can my Korean-national child leave Korean school for Smartious?

Not during the nine compulsory years. We recommend keeping the Korean school enrolment and studying with us as a supplement.

What times are live classes in South Korea?

Korea is six hours ahead of Nairobi with no daylight saving, so classes run in the Korean afternoon and evening, roughly 3pm to 10pm. Every lesson is recorded.

We are a military family at Humphreys. Can this run alongside DoDEA school?

Yes. Families typically add AP or advanced Mathematics alongside the DoDEA school, and the curriculum continues if you are reassigned.

Where are exams sat?

At authorised exam centres, which families book, mostly in Seoul. We confirm a centre per family, per session.

Next steps

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