About This Site

I'm hiyahoya, a backend software developer born and living in Korea. I build every calculator and converter on Korea Toolbox myself, and I write every guide from firsthand experience navigating daily life in Seoul — not from stitching together other people's blog posts.

Why This Site Exists

Most "Korea for foreigners" content online is written by people who visited once, or who never visited at all. It gets the small details wrong: an outdated subway fare, a Korean age calculation that doesn't account for the 2023 legal reform, a name romanization that doesn't match what actually appears on a real Korean ID card. Those details matter when you're the one relying on them. I built this site to fix that gap — tools and guides that reflect how things actually work here, checked against my own daily experience rather than assumptions.

What You'll Find Here

Free, no-signup tools: a Korean age calculator, a Hangul name converter, a Romanization tool, a travel budget calculator, a TOPIK score calculator, and more as I build them. Alongside the tools, I write guides on travel logistics, learning Korean, and the everyday practical side of living here — the questions I get asked most often, answered the way I'd answer a friend.

Editorial Note

Every page on this site is written and fact-checked by me. When I'm not certain about something — a rule, a price, a procedure — I verify it before publishing rather than guessing. If you spot something that's changed or that I got wrong, tell me and I'll fix it. You can reach me through the contact page.