KTX tickets go on sale at 7:00, two months ahead

For years, Korean train tickets only went on sale a month before departure. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained the problem this caused: foreign visitors often buy their flights two months ahead, but could not book trains until one month out, which made it hard to plan travel inside Korea. Since 1 October, you can book the KTX on the same day you book the flight.

That leaves two questions. Which screen actually lets you pay, and what does it cost if your plans change during those two months? KORAIL's own guide answers both. Where foreign visitors get stuck is the identity check on the Korean screens and a cancellation fee that changes with the day your train leaves.

The short version

KTX and other train tickets go on sale at 7:00 on the same date two months before departure.

The window grew from one month to two on 1 October 2026. If you cannot use a Naver or Kakao identity check, buy on KORAIL's site for foreign visitors, and use the email address and password you entered there to find your ticket again. Non-member booking in the KORAIL+ app and on the Korean website only lets you pay after that identity check. If your plans change, the cancellation fee depends on the day your train leaves. For a Monday to Thursday departure, cancelling is free until 3 hours before the train goes.

Deadlines that matter

When tickets for your travel date first go on sale
By when: 7:00 on the same date, two months before departure
If you miss it: Tickets stay on sale until just before the train leaves: until departure on the website and at station counters, and until 10 minutes before departure at ticket machines. If the train is sold out, you can join the waiting list in KORAIL+ or on the website until two days before departure.
Cancelling a Monday to Thursday departure for free
By when: Until 3 hours before departure
If you miss it: After that, 5% is taken until the train leaves. Once it has left, refunds are only given at a station counter: 15% up to 20 minutes after departure, 40% up to 60 minutes, and 70% until arrival.
Cancelling a Friday to Sunday, public holiday or Seollal and Chuseok departure
By when: Until two days before departure, the minimum fee of 400 won
If you miss it: 5% the day before, 10% from the day of travel until 3 hours before departure, and 20% after that until the train leaves. Up to 20 minutes after departure it is 30%.
Cancelling a ticket you have just bought
By when: Within 10 minutes of payment
If you miss it: In KORAIL+ and on the website this is free up to twice a day, for trains leaving at least 30 minutes later. After 10 minutes, the fees above apply.

Right now

1Count back two months from your travel date to the same date and set an alarm for 7:00 Korea time. In KORAIL's own example, tickets for trains on 28 April go on sale on 28 February.
2If you cannot use a Naver or Kakao identity check, go straight to KORAIL's site for foreign visitors (korail.com/global). The email address and password you enter at payment are how you find the ticket again, so write them down exactly, capital letters included.
3Trains from Suseo are sold in the same place. Since 1 September, SRT trains are called KTX-Sancheon, and the KORAIL+ app shows departures from Seoul Station and Suseo Station side by side.

What to have ready

A credit card issued outside Korea: The site for foreign visitors takes payment by credit card. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport says it mainly works with overseas cards such as Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay.
The email address and password for finding your ticket again: Exactly as you typed them when you bought the ticket, capital letters included. KORAIL itself suggests keeping a note.
Your departure station's name as the screen shows it: Seoul has more than one KTX station, such as Seoul, Yongsan and Suseo.
A phone to show your ticket: A screenshot or copy of a ticket is not accepted as a ticket.
KORAIL's customer service number: The site for foreign visitors lists 82-1599-7777, open every day from 8:00 to 20:00.

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

1
Go back two months to the same date
Where:
KORAIL website, KORAIL+ app, station ticket counters, ticket machines
From 1 October 2026, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and KORAIL moved the start of ticket sales for KTX and other trains from one month before departure to two. KORAIL's guide says tickets can be bought from 7:00 two months before departure until the train leaves, and gives two examples: tickets for 28 April go on sale on 28 February, and tickets for 30 May on 30 March. Only the date moves back two months; the time is 7:00. It is not a KTX-only rule either. The ministry described it as covering KTX and other train tickets, and Mugunghwa and ITX trains follow the same rule.
2
Skip the SRT app and use KORAIL+
Where:
KORAIL+ app, KORAIL website (www.korail.com)
KORAIL and SR became a single organisation on 1 September, and SRT trains were renamed KTX-Sancheon. The two booking apps, KORAIL Talk and SRT, were merged into KORAIL+ on 3 August, and in that app you can search and book departures from Seoul Station and Suseo Station together. The SR website tells passengers to book former SRT routes as KTX in KORAIL+ for trains running from 1 September, and says on the same page that the SRT app is due to stop. So for a train from Suseo to Busan or Gwangju, open KORAIL too. KORAIL lists its places to buy as the website, KORAIL+, ticket machines, station ticket counters (not subway stations) and ticket agents.
3
Without a Naver or Kakao check, the site for foreign visitors is your way in
Where:
korail.com/global (English, Japanese and other languages)
KORAIL+ and the Korean website also sell tickets without membership, but you can only pay and get the ticket after passing an identity check through an app such as Naver or Kakao. If you cannot use that check, go to the site for foreign visitors. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it supports seven languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese, and French, German and Mongolian are planned by the end of the year for ten in all. On this site you find a booking again with the email address and password you entered when you bought it. KORAIL asks you to type them exactly, capital letters included, and to note them down so you do not forget. Payment is by credit card, and for now that mainly means overseas cards such as Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay. For WeChat Pay and Alipay, the ministry has said it is developing the system needed to bring them in.
4
The cancellation fee depends on the day your train leaves
KORAIL's fee table has two rows, split by the day of departure. For a Monday to Thursday departure, you can cancel for free from the day you buy until 3 hours before departure, and 5% is taken after that until the train leaves. For a Friday to Sunday departure, a public holiday, Seollal or Chuseok, the minimum fee of 400 won applies until two days before departure, then 5% the day before, 10% from the day of travel until 3 hours before departure, and 20% after that until the train leaves. Before departure you cancel yourself on the website or in KORAIL+. Once the train has left, refunds are only given at a station counter: 15% or 30% up to 20 minutes after departure depending on the day, 40% up to 60 minutes, and 70% until arrival. After the arrival time there is no refund. There is one exception. For a KTX ticket bought in KORAIL+, you can request a refund in the app up to 10 minutes after departure if it is confirmed that you did not board. The 400 won on a weekend ticket can be avoided too. KORAIL's guide says there is no fee if you cancel in KORAIL+ or on the website within seven days of buying, counting the day of purchase, and at least two days before departure.
5
If your plans slip, change the ticket instead of cancelling
Where:
KORAIL+ app
A ticket held in KORAIL+ can be changed to another train once, with no fee, until 30 minutes before departure. The new train has to run on the same route within seven days either side of your original date, and you can change the passenger type and seat at the same time. Transfer tickets and combined tickets cannot be changed. If you later cancel a changed ticket, you pay the higher of two fees: the one that applied to the original ticket when you changed it, or the one that applies to the new ticket when you cancel. If you notice right after buying that you picked the wrong date or station, cancel within 10 minutes of payment. That is free up to twice a day, for trains leaving at least 30 minutes later.
6
Some trains are missing from the list at 7:00
Where:
Notices on the KORAIL website
A few trains go on sale on a different day from the two-month rule. KORAIL announces them in its Notices under the title 승차권 판매일 조정 알림 (change of ticket sale dates). The notice of 17 September said 22 trains running from 1 October would go on sale at 16:00 on 22 September. The notice of 2 October said the sale date for 15 trains running from 1 November (12 KTX and 3 other trains) would be announced again at 16:00 on 8 October. The start time can move as well. From 7 to 11 September, while Chuseok holiday booking was running, tickets for trains leaving between 7 and 11 October went on sale at 10:00 instead of 7:00. If the train you want is not there at 7:00, open Notices before deciding it has sold out.
7
Seollal and Chuseok trains have been sold on their own schedules
So far, holiday trains have been sold apart from ordinary sales, on a schedule KORAIL announced for each holiday. Trains for Chuseok 2026 (23 to 27 September) were booked from 7 to 11 September, from 7:00 to 13:00 each day, by integrated members only, on a dedicated holiday booking page. KORAIL's English notice also said membership was required and that station counters did not take these bookings. Non-members could buy once the sale of remaining seats began at 15:00 on 11 September. As of 4 October, KORAIL's Notices show no booking schedule for Seollal 2027. Until one appears, do not expect Seollal trains to go on sale at 7:00 two months ahead.

The Korean words

승차권seungchagwon, train ticket: The official word for a train ticket on KORAIL screens and in its notices.
출발 2개월 전chulbal igaewol jeon, two months before departure: How KORAIL writes when sales start. It is followed by 07시 (7:00).
비회원bihoewon, non-member: Buying without signing up. On the Korean screens it still needs an app-based identity check.
간편인증ganpyeon injeung, app-based identity check: Confirming who you are through an app such as Naver or Kakao.
위약금wiyakgeum, cancellation fee: What is taken when you cancel a ticket. The minimum is 400 won.
승차권 변경seungchagwon byeongyeong, changing a ticket: Once in KORAIL+, with no fee, until 30 minutes before departure.
판매일 조정panmaeil jojeong, change of sale date: The words in a KORAIL notice title when some trains go on sale on a different day.
KTX-산천KTX-sancheon, KTX-Sancheon, a KTX train type: The name former SRT trains have carried since 1 September.
예약대기yeyak daegi, waiting list: A request for a seat on a sold-out train. If a seat comes to you, pay by 18:00 that day.

Easy to miss

Looking for trains from Suseo in the SRT app or on the SRT website. For trains running from 1 September, those routes are sold as KTX in KORAIL+.
Noting the email address or password from the site for foreign visitors carelessly. Together they are how you find the booking again, and capital letters count.
Taking a screenshot of the ticket and deleting the original. You cannot board or get a refund with a screenshot or copy.
Booking a Friday departure two months ahead and forgetting it. A weekend ticket costs 400 won to cancel even two days ahead, and 5% the day before. Look at your plans again before seven days have passed since you bought it.
Deciding a train is sold out because it is not there at 7:00. It may be one of the trains with its own sale date.
Pressing refund in the app after the train has left. After departure you have to go to a station counter, and after the arrival time there is no refund at all.
Expecting Seollal trains to go on sale at 7:00 two months ahead as well. Holiday trains have been sold on schedules KORAIL announced separately.

You can skip this if

If you only ride the subway inside Seoul, you do not need this guide. The subway guide is the one to read.
For a ticket out of Seoul over a holiday, the holiday booking guide covers booking days by line, remaining seats and the waiting list.
KORAIL PASS is sold through its own menu on the site for foreign visitors. This guide is about ordinary tickets.
The sale start time and the fee table were checked against KORAIL's guide on 4 October 2026. If KORAIL changes them, this guide will change too.

Where this comes from

Rules, fees and deadlines change and depend on your exact case. Please confirm the details with the official sources before you act.

KTX tickets go on sale at 7:00, two months ahead

Deadlines that matter

Right now

What to have ready

Phrases you can copy and paste

Step by step

Go back two months to the same date

Skip the SRT app and use KORAIL+

Without a Naver or Kakao check, the site for foreign visitors is your way in

The cancellation fee depends on the day your train leaves

If your plans slip, change the ticket instead of cancelling

Some trains are missing from the list at 7:00

Seollal and Chuseok trains have been sold on their own schedules

The Korean words

Easy to miss

You can skip this if

Where this comes from

Questions and notes