What South Korean won actually arrives in South Korea when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (KRW) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 466,020 KRW |
| 1,000 AUD | 932,040 KRW |
| 2,000 AUD | 1,864,080 KRW |
| 5,000 AUD | 4,660,200 KRW |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
A high-speed peninsula where K-pop, semiconductors and 24-hour cities run on near-universal gigabit broadband. South Korea went from post-war poverty to tech powerhouse in a single lifetime.
A white field with the red-and-blue taegeuk at its centre and a black trigram in each of the four corners. The taegeuk's upper half is red for yang and its lower half blue for yin, and their harmony is the design's central idea. White is read as brightness and purity and as a peace-loving national character, and the four trigrams are geon for heaven, gon for earth, gam for water and i for fire.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
The won is quoted without decimal places and runs to several hundred per Australian dollar, so everyday amounts land in the hundreds of thousands. South Korea also applies documentation requirements to larger inward transfers that a sender should confirm in advance.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in South Korea determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. The AUD/KRW converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
Korea attaches a person's cross-border activity to one institution. The Foreign Exchange Transactions Regulations require a foreign exchange bank to be designated for the transactions they cover, and the Bank of Korea's own guidance is built on that designation: it is the bank a resident's routine reporting goes to, and the bank that holds the documentary record. Choosing it is therefore a decision a recipient makes once and lives with, rather than a form filled in for a particular payment.
The account has to be in the recipient's own name as a matter of statute. The Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality requires financial companies to perform financial transactions with customers under their real names. It separately prohibits transacting under another person's real name to conceal assets, launder money, finance terrorism or evade execution, and a violation carries imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to fifty million won.
Behind the designated bank sits infrastructure with no foreign access point. The Bank of Korea owns and operates BOK-Wire+ for large-value settlement, while the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute runs the interbank funds transfer system carrying retail payments, which settle on a designated-time net basis through central bank accounts. Those systems move money that is already in Korea; the receiving bank credits an inbound payment first, and only then does any of it apply.
Sources: Foreign Exchange Transactions Regulations, Korea Legislation Research Institute · Bank of Korea, reporting by type of foreign exchange transaction · Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, Korea Legislation Research Institute · Bank of Korea, payment and settlement systems
How much South Korean won will I receive in South Korea?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in South Korea can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in South Korea. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
Retail rates are set away from the mid-market midpoint by a margin the provider keeps. Comparing a quote against the reference rate on this page is what makes that margin visible, since it is rarely stated as a fee. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.