South Korea's Lunar New Year holiday officially runs five days from January 14 to 18, but major conglomerates are effectively extending the break. Some companies have designated January 19 as an official holiday and set recommended leave days before and after the holiday, enabling employees to take up to 10 consecutive days off.
Samsung Electronics has not designated additional official holidays beyond the standard Lunar New Year period, allowing employees to use annual leave at their discretion, News1 reported Sunday. However, factories maintain 24-hour operations, requiring on-site workers to continue regular shifts. Samsung Electro-Mechanics follows a similar approach, applying a voluntary leave policy without separate guidelines while manufacturing staff continue working.
LG Group is taking a more proactive stance, implementing company-wide holidays through January 19 to ensure employees get sufficient rest. LG Electronics has designated January 13 and 20 as recommended leave days, enabling staff to take up to 10 consecutive days off from January 13 to 22.
POSCO applies only the official Lunar New Year holiday for office workers, with no additional recommended leave days. Its plants operate around the clock during the holiday period.
The automotive industry shows similar patterns. Hyundai Motor will keep both factories and headquarters closed through January 19, the day after the official holiday ends. Regular work resumes January 20, though employees may use annual leave based on personal circumstances. Renault Korea and KG Mobility will also halt production through January 19.
The shipbuilding sector remains more conservative. HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean apply only the official holiday period, though they permit selective work for personnel required by production schedules—a measure interpreted as minimizing delivery delay risks. Samsung Heavy Industries and HJ Shipbuilding, however, will observe official holidays through January 19, with some workers reporting to duty based on job requirements.
Holiday duration varies by company. According to a Korea Employers Federation survey of 447 companies with five or more employees nationwide, 64.8% of companies observing the Lunar New Year holiday will provide five days off. Companies offering four days or fewer accounted for 26.1%, while those providing six or more days represented 9.2%.
The practice of attaching annual leave to holidays is becoming more widespread. In a recent Incruit survey of 4,362 office workers on "2026 Lunar New Year Holiday Plans," 61.6% of respondents indicated they planned to use annual leave. Two days was the most common planned leave duration at 38.1%, followed by one day at 23.5%.
Industry observers note the workplace atmosphere has shifted from the past. "Previously, companies operated recommended leave systems for workers' benefit, but now the voluntary leave culture has spread so widely that such systems have become nominal," one industry official said. "The trend now is to take time off without feeling self-conscious."