South Korea VPN: 10 Reasons WHY You Need a VPN (Reclaim Your Privacy)

You might think of South Korea as a free and unrestrictive country, especially compared to its northern neighbor. But when it comes to the internet, you’d be wrong — and that’s why you need a VPN in South Korea.

The country’s war on online freedom is ongoing, and there’s no end in sight. So as an internet user, you need to take your privacy and security into your own hands.

A VPN can help you do just that. Here are 10 examples of what this powerful software can do.

Top 10 Reasons Why You Need a VPN While in South Korea

1. South Korea’s Internet Is Censored by the Government

South Korea has some of the fastest, most reliable broadband internet in the world. But the government filters out so much of it that, to an outsider, it may be almost unrecognizable.

Many sites related to political or social movements are blocked. But many other “indecent” websites are also blocked.

These include gambling sites, games without maturity ratings and all pornography websites.

If you want to view any of these sites in South Korea, you’ll need a VPN. It encrypts your web traffic so the government’s internet filters won’t be able to trap you.

2. Internet Surveillance Is Pervasive in South Korea

Surveillance goes hand-in-hand with censorship, and if you need proof of that, look no further than South Korea.

ISPs in South Korea willingly give customer information to law enforcement without a warrant. This information includes names, addresses, registration numbers and more.

The government has also been caught spying on citizens’ private messages. It also uses SNI technology to defeat TLS encryption used by HTTPS websites.

It’s clear that in South Korea, you need more protection than a normal internet connection can give you. A VPN can provide you with just that.

3. South Korea Cooperates with the Five Eyes Surveillance Alliance

North Korea poses a real threat to South Korea, but some would argue that the latter’s precautions seriously overstep its boundaries.

Specifically, South Korea has come under fire for collaborating with the Five Eyes surveillance alliance in the name of defending itself against North Korea.

Five Eyes is comprised of five world superpowers that swap intelligence and spy on one another’s citizens. It’s closely entwined with the US’s infamous PRISM program, which enables mass surveillance of web traffic, emails and other telecommunications.

Much of this group’s activity is kept secret, so there’s no way to know exactly who South Korea is monitoring. If you don’t want it to be you, encrypting your data with a VPN is your best line of defense.

4. You Could Go to Jail for What You Do Online

In 2018, a 53-year-old South Korean blogger was sentenced to one year in prison for his online misdeeds.

His crime? Posting that US troops should leave South Korea and expressing agreement with the North Korean government.

He’s far from the only one to receive such disproportionate punishment. Hundreds of South Koreans have been arrested or jailed for their tweets, status updates and blog posts.

Clearly, it’s not safe to express political dissent without a VPN. It encrypts your data and lets you mask your IP address, making you less traceable.

5. Torrenting Isn’t Safe in South Korea Unless You Use a VPN

South Korea doesn’t take kindly to media pirates. It’s arrested torrent site owners and instituted programs to crack down on illegal downloading.

While there haven’t been any high-profile cases of individual downloaders getting in trouble, why take the risk? A VPN puts an iron wall between your torrents and the government, and its IP masking capabilities stop you from being tracked down.

6. VPNs Let You Bypass Geo-Restrictions on Streaming Sites

South Korea has tons of entertaining media to enjoy, but if you want to watch content from other countries, you may be out of luck. Netflix and other streaming sites only allow South Korean users to view South Korean content libraries.

But you can get around this by using a VPN to make it look like you’re coming from a different country. Just pick a server and gain access to new content from anywhere in the world.

7. A VPN Prevents Activity-Based ISP Throttling

Your ISP may promise you certain speeds, but depending on what you’re doing, you may never hit them. That’s because ISPs throttle speeds based on your activity — so if you’re streaming or gaming, your connection may slow to a crawl.

A VPN prevents your ISP from seeing exactly what you’re doing online. And if it doesn’t know what you’re doing, it can’t throttle you for doing it.

8. Hackers Can’t Hurt You on Public WiFi if You Use a VPN

For security’s sake, it’s best to assume that every public WiFi network is compromised — and more often than not, you’ll be right. Hackers have easy access to tools that can intercept your data from public networks, putting your identity at risk.

But if you encrypt that data with a VPN, it’ll be useless to any hacker that obtains it. Encrypted data just looks like gibberish until it’s decrypted, and as of yet, there’s no way for a hacker to do that.

9. VPNs Allow You to View Blocked Sites at Work or School

Government censorship isn’t the only restriction that plagues South Korea’s internet. Your workplace or school IT department probably has its own restrictions in place, too.

So if you want to browse Facebook on your break or research your term paper with a YouTube video, you’ll need to use a VPN. VPNs stop network filters from working properly, so you can view any site you want.

10. You Can Save Money on Online Purchases with a VPN

Online retailers, especially airlines and hotels, have a tricky scheme they use to make more money. They check your IP address and show you different prices for the same things based on your location.

You can stop this by using a VPN to change your IP address to one from another country. Try a few and see which one gives you the lowest price — you could save hundreds of dollars.