If you are looking to travel to Korea, you may think of bring things such as a camera, cell phone, laptop, tablet and other electronic devices that you will need to charge up. However, the thought of charging electronic devices when traveling overseas can be scary. After all, there are plenty of stories of people going to East Asia and frying their electronic devices just by plugging them into a wall. Some will tell you that you need a power converter to safely use you devices when in Korea. But is that true? Maybe, but maybe not.

What Is A Power Converter?

In this case, we are talking about a power converter that will help convert voltage to safely use an electronic device from another country. The reason why many people consider getting a power converter for Korea is that Korea sometimes uses a higher voltage than what they use at home. For example, the voltage used in the U.S. is at 120 V. But in Korea, the voltage is at 220 V. So you can see why many would be concerned about plugging their devices in the wall of their hotel or friend’s home in Korea.

Do You Need A Power Converter?

The good news is that you may not need an actual power converter in Korea. A number of electronic devices are rated to be plugged in safely for multiple voltages. This includes most laptops, cell phones and tablets sold on the market today. This would also include older devices that you may still be using as well.

How To Check

Usually, you can look at the spec sheet for your devices and it will tell you the voltage that is safe for charging your device(s). You can also check the base of the power cable to see what the range of voltage is that can safely charge the device.

What Do You Actually Need?

If the voltage in Korea, and/or in whatever other countries that you plan to travel to, does fall within the range of the voltage that your charger(s) can safely use, you won’t need a power converter. You can simply buy a power adapter to plug your device(s) into and then you can plug the adapter into the wall. These adapters can be cheap and purchased online. However, if the voltage is too high for your device(s), you will need to buy a power converter to be safe. If you are unsure, there are some international travel packs that have adapters and a power converter with them that you can purchase. When purchasing adapters for Korea in the past, the ones that I’ve used/plan to use will usually come up as a European type in a search. These are usually plug type C, but sometimes you will see plug type F as well.

Extra Tip

Here are a couple of ways you can charge multiple USB devices at once. While it is not always recommended, you can bring what you need to charge your laptop and use the USB ports as a USB hub. There are also USB hubs you can buy for your laptop, or there are some travel USB hubs that you can buy to plug into the wall and charge multiple USB devices at once. You can find these on Amazon and eBay. If you plan to use GPS on your phone a lot, you may also want to get a portable USB charger to charge your phone on the go.

Don’t forget you can always ask your host or the place you are paying to stay at about options for charging your devices. And you may be able to buy some adapters in the airport or at travel stores. Some hotels may have adapters for their guest as well. Whatever you decide to do, with some careful planning and research, you can feel save that you’ll be able to charge you devices and use them on your Korean adventure.