The interview sounded clear: a salary, a role, and a start date. The contract is less clear. It says overtime is included, probation may be extended, and other conditions follow company policy. What should you ask before signing?
This guide is a conversation checklist for foreign residents considering an employment contract in Korea. It focuses on turning vague wording into answers you can review and keep. For a broader introduction to the clauses themselves, start with our guide to five clauses to check in a Korean employment contract.
Last updated: October 5, 2026. Removed a duplicated checklist and closing section and repaired the source-note formatting. No changes to the employment-law guidance.
Last checked: September 17, 2026. This is general information, not a legal assessment of your contract. Applicable protections depend on the actual working relationship and relevant rules. Ask MOEL or a qualified Korean labor professional about disputed or unusual terms.
Ask for the complete document before discussing individual clauses
Request the contract, referenced policies, and any attachments about compensation, housing, confidentiality, or repayment. If the employer offers a translation, compare it with the other version rather than assuming the two say the same thing.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor’s guidance on required written employment terms identifies wage components and calculation/payment methods, scheduled working hours, holidays, and annual paid leave, and says a copy must be given to the worker.
Useful opening questions are:
- “Is this the complete version, including all documents it refers to?”
- “Could you send the company policies that determine my pay, leave, and probation conditions?”
- “If the Korean and English wording differs, how will we resolve the difference before signing?”
- “When will I receive my copy of the completed contract and agreed attachments?”
A translation app can help identify a question. It should not be the final judge of a repayment clause, dismissal provision, or inconsistent language. Do not upload an unredacted contract to a public tool without considering its privacy and confidentiality implications.
1. “Which company is employing me, and what work am I agreeing to?”
Check the legal employer, not only the brand on the office door. Ask who signs the contract, pays you, supervises the work, approves leave, and handles problems.
For wording such as “other duties as assigned,” ask for the main duties and reasonable scope of additional work. For “workplace may change,” ask which locations are contemplated, how much notice is expected, and whether travel or relocation costs are covered.
“The offer describes content marketing in Seoul, but the contract allows placement at other branches. Which workplaces could I be assigned to, and would the role or travel requirements change?”
That question does not determine whether a transfer clause is lawful. It establishes what the employer is proposing. If the arrangement is described as freelance or subcontract work despite an employment-style offer, get advice on the actual relationship before relying on the label.
2. “How much is guaranteed, and what could change?”
Ask for a pay breakdown rather than a single annual number. Identify basic pay (기본급), fixed allowances (고정수당), any overtime-related amount, and conditional bonuses or incentives (성과급). Then ask for the payment date and how a partial first month is calculated.
Fictional comparison: an offer describes annual compensation of KRW 39 million, but KRW 3 million is a conditional performance bonus. If the remaining KRW 36 million is guaranteed and paid in twelve equal installments, that part is KRW 3 million gross per month—not KRW 3.25 million. This arithmetic does not establish minimum-wage compliance or the treatment of any particular allowance.
Follow-up questions:
- “Which amounts are contractually fixed, and which depend on performance or management approval?”
- “What are the bonus criteria, assessment period, and payment date?”
- “Is the amount before deductions, and which deductions do you expect?”
- “Is retirement benefit or severance described separately from monthly compensation?”
- “Can you provide an illustrative payslip with no personal information, showing the components?”
Treat a net-pay estimate as an estimate. Your own tax and insurance circumstances may affect the eventual amount. Do not compare offers using a guaranteed salary from one employer and an optimistic bonus-inclusive total from another.
3. “What exactly does ‘overtime included’ cover?”
If you see 포괄임금 or 고정 연장근로수당, ask for the calculation and operating rules. Do not accept the phrase alone as an explanation of unlimited additional work.
“Please identify the basic wage, the separate amount allocated to overtime or other extra work, the hours it is intended to cover, the calculation basis, and how work beyond that amount is recorded and paid.”
Also ask who approves extra work, how actual hours are recorded, and what happens when urgent work is requested outside the normal schedule. If the answer is “we do not count hours,” ask a labor professional to review the actual arrangement and contract before deciding.
This is a request for clarity, not a declaration that every fixed allowance is valid or invalid. A clause’s effect needs assessment against the facts and applicable rules.
4. “What changes during probation?”
Ask for the probation period (수습기간), exact pay during it, evaluation criteria, review date, and what the contract says about extension or the end of the period. Clarify whether you are entering ongoing employment with probation or a separate fixed-term arrangement.
MOEL’s minimum-wage guidance describes a limited probation-related minimum-wage reduction for qualifying contracts of at least one year, during the first three months, with designated simple-labor occupations excluded. This is not a general entitlement to reduce every employee’s agreed salary by 10%.
Ask: “The offer gives one salary, but the draft says 90% during probation. What exact amount will I receive, for which dates, and on what agreed and legal basis?” Have any ambiguity resolved before you budget around the higher figure.
Do not assume probation means there are no employment protections, or that a successful evaluation automatically changes every fixed-term contract into indefinite employment.
5. “What do the hours and leave provisions mean in practice?”
Ask for working days, start and finish times, breaks, shift arrangements, and any expected weekend or travel work. If the role is described as flexible, ask which hours you can choose and which meetings or coverage periods are fixed.
For leave, ask about eligibility, accrual, the request process, any scheduled shutdown days, and what the employer means by “public holidays” or “vacation included.” Distinguish statutory entitlement from extra leave the employer promises.
A MOEL consultation page discussing workplaces with fewer than five regular employees explains that statutory annual-leave rules and separately agreed leave need to be distinguished, while other protections can still apply. “We are a small company” is not a complete answer to every question. Ask which rule the employer is relying on and have an adviser check the relevant headcount and circumstances.
“You mentioned ten paid vacation days during our discussion. Where is that promise recorded, when would I become eligible to use them, and how does it relate to any statutory entitlement?”
The ten days are an invented example, not a statement of the legal minimum. Avoid borrowing another employee’s leave allowance without checking their length of service, schedule, and workplace circumstances.
6. “What would I owe if the job ends?”
Read notice, repayment, deduction, housing, and equipment provisions together. Ask what happens if you resign, the employer ends the arrangement, or a fixed term expires. These are different situations and may involve different rules.
If a clause demands a fixed payment for leaving early, stop and obtain advice. The government’s Easy Law explanation of wage protection describes Article 20’s prohibition on predetermining a penalty or damages for breach of an employment contract. That does not mean every disputed cost reimbursement or claim for actual loss can be resolved from one sentence in a blog.
Ask the employer to identify each alleged cost, its calculation, when it becomes payable, and the basis for collecting it. Have training-cost repayment, relocation support, recruitment charges, non-compete terms, and broad intellectual-property clauses reviewed where their effect is unclear.
For employer-provided housing, ask who pays the deposit, rent, utilities, and cleaning costs, and when you would need to leave after employment ends. For equipment, ask for a return procedure rather than accepting an unexplained automatic deduction.
Do not assume that a “30-day notice” phrase answers every resignation or dismissal question. If you need advice, bring the actual contract type, dates, and wording.
7. “How does the start date relate to immigration permission?”
Ask who will prepare employer documents, which procedure is being proposed, and how the start date will be adjusted if necessary permission is delayed. Keep the employment agreement and permission to perform the job as separate checks.
For your own status and proposed duties, use the official Immigration Contact Center, 1345. Ask about the specific activity, employer, workplace, and timing. A company’s promise to help with a visa is not the approval itself.
A useful question to HR is: “Can the contract explain how we will confirm the first working day if the required permission is still pending?” Avoid silently accepting a start date that you have not verified you can meet.
Turn the answers into a corrected document
Keep a short clarification list: clause, your question, the employer’s response, and where the agreed wording appears. Separate an explanation of an existing term from an actual change to it.
If HR agrees that the draft does not reflect the offer, request a revised contract or clearly identified written addendum. A helpful conversation is not a reason to leave contradictory wording unresolved.
You can send this template after adapting it to the facts:
Subject: Contract clarification — [role / name]
Thank you for sending the draft. Before signing, could we clarify:
1. Clause [number]: the guaranteed monthly gross pay and any conditional bonus.
2. Clause [number]: the overtime allowance, covered hours, and treatment of additional work.
3. Clause [number]: the probation period and pay.
4. Clause [number]: [your remaining material question].If we agree on a change, please include it in the revised contract or an agreed addendum and send the complete version for review. Thank you.
Useful Korean wording:
서명 전에 아래 조항의 의미와 적용 기준을 확인하고 싶습니다. 합의한 내용은 수정된 계약서 또는 별도 합의서에 반영해 주실 수 있을까요?
“Before signing, I would like to confirm the meaning and application of the following clauses. Could the agreed points be reflected in a revised contract or a separate written agreement?”
When the answer is still unclear
- “It is just our standard contract.” Ask how the disputed clause would apply to you in a concrete situation. Standard wording can still leave an important question unanswered.
- “Sign now; we will explain later.” Request a specific review period and identify the unresolved terms. Do not sign blank sections or documents you have not received.
- “The English version is only a guide.” Arrange reliable review of the version the employer intends to rely on. Ask to reconcile any conflicting figures or obligations.
- “We agreed verbally, so no change is needed.” Ask for the agreement to be documented consistently. Do not assume that a verbal exchange or your unanswered email settles a contradiction.
- You already signed. Keep your copy and related messages, identify the disputed wording, and seek advice promptly. Do not assume every signed clause is enforceable, or that signing means no correction or remedy is possible.
For contract and labor questions, contact MOEL’s 1350 counseling service or a qualified Korean labor professional. The service lists weekdays 09:00–18:00 and call charges; check available language assistance. Prepare the actual wording, work arrangement, relevant dates, and what the employer has said. Do not send personal documents to an unverified contact.
Before your final signature
Re-read the complete final version, not just the clauses HR says it changed. Check the employer, dates, duties, workplace, wage breakdown, hours, leave, probation, and attached policies. Confirm there are no unexplained blanks or missing pages, and that both sides are working from the same version.
Keep your completed copy, agreed attachments, and clarification messages privately. The aim is not to win an argument over every sentence. It is to know what you are accepting, have important promises recorded, and get qualified help where the answer cannot safely be inferred.
Source note: Official sources were checked on September 17, 2026. The salary and vacation examples are hypothetical. The questions and email template are practical editorial tools, not model legal clauses. Applicability and enforceability require the relevant facts and current law. Targeted update, October 8, 2026: the written-terms and pre-agreed-penalty guidance above was rechecked against Articles 17 and 20 of the Labor Standards Act now in force. This was not a new review of every rule discussed in this article.
Sources for this targeted update: Labor Standards Act, Article 17 (effective October 8, 2026); Labor Standards Act, Articles 17 and 20.
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