Furthermore 10 days vacation is illegal according to Korean Labor Law.
http://www.koreanlaborlaw.com/annual-leave-based-on-the-korean-labor-law/
they probably get around this from the number of red days that you usually also get off, no?
Yes, this is the popular misconception about 'paid leave'. 'Paid leave' is just a paid day off, including national holidays if the employer deems it so. It is not like our extended time off we'd expect back home. Korea is still developing in this sense, but they're getting there with new laws over the next few years. Like I always say, Labour Law is the same for Koreans and foreigners, and we know the stupid inefficient working hours that Koreans do and are expected to do. Hagwons can be open every day, therefore most can calculate someone's daily pay by the number of days in that month, and that can also dictate their 'one paid holiday per week'. That is why some hagwons can get their native teacher to come in one or two Saturdays a month unpaid, because it's a working day, and then Sunday is their 'one paid holiday a week'.
Public school teachers only work a Mon-Sat week, like most government employees, so that is why, by Labour Law, public school teachers get Saturday as their 'one paid holiday a week' as per Article 55. Public school teachers already get national holidays off so that, by Labour Law, is sufficient. The fact we get an actual 18/26 extra days on top of that is way over what is expected in basic Labour Law. That is why if a hagwon offers 10 days + national holidays off paid + at least 5 days off (including Saturday or Sunday) a month, then they're good.
Some crappy hagwons though, seem to just offer foreign teachers a Korean teacher's contract translated with crappy Korean working conditions and those are the awful ones to avoid. You can spot them a mile off.
Again, Labour Law is evolving, but we would be more likely to be contacting the Labour Board more than a Korean, because for them just having a job and putting up with crap and being worked to the bone, seem to go together.
The new laws about national holidays coming in starting this year will help Koreans and not really foreigners, it'll just make 'mandatory paid holidays' legal. 'Hey, I've got the national day off, but you have to pay me', whereas in the past they wouldn't have to. Thing is knowing how small hagwons run, and only from Jan 1st 2022 do small businesses with 5 to 29 employees have the pay the mandatory paid holidays. Still, businesses with 4 or less, will be exempt completely.
