Finding a dating platform popular with Koreans is the best way to meet new people and quickly connect with eligible Korean singles whether you’re moving to South Korea, you’re already living there, or you’re just interested in finding a person who can share Korean culture with you.
But with many dating platforms focusing largely on American and European users, it can be difficult to find a popular app that focuses on its East Asian users. Not all dating apps are created equal, and some are better suited to Korean dating culture and the interests of Korean singles than others. Here are our picks for the best Korean dating sites and apps available.
Match
- Relationships: Friends, Dates, and Relationships
- Match System: Browse by zip, age, appearance, more
- Our Experts Say: Match has facilitated the most dates and relationships of any dating site, and its large audience and high success rate make it our top review. Our Review »
- Browse Free: View Photos Now
Launched in 1995, Match is the most experienced online dating platform on this list — and that experience counts for quite a bit in the matchmaking game. The dating website has pioneered many successful features and even hosted in-person events in the hopes of helping single people make meaningful connections.
Match is one of the few dating services to have ethnicity filters available for users. That means Korean singles can easily filter for potential dates that share similar backgrounds and heritage. Match also has filters for education, interests, and lifestyle choices, including if a person is a smoker or not, which can be empowering for a single person with a particular type in mind.
eharmony
- Relationships: Casual Dates, Deep Relationships
- Match System: Personality test suggests matches
- Our Experts Say: Accounting for 2% of U.S. marriages, eharmony’s compatibility-based system and commitment-minded user base are ideal for those seeking a serious relationship. Our Review »
- Browse Free: View Photos Now
With over 50 million members worldwide, it’s no secret that eharmony is a top choice for singles everywhere. With a focus on creating long-lasting, foundationally-sound relationships, eharmony makes this dating platform the perfect place to meet someone who shares your Korean culture, values, and expectations in a potential partner. Its promotion of traditional, committed relationships fits right in with Korean dating culture and can help you find a Korean man or Korean woman who wants the same thing as you.
eharmony narrows down your matches through the Compatibility Matching System. Every user takes a compatibility quiz when they join the site to find out your personality, your habits, your motivations, and your communication style. The site uses this information to pair you with similar partners. With eharmony’s technology, your potential match is likely to be fairly compatible with you.
3. Amanda
One of the most popular dating platforms in South Korea, Amanda is a Korean dating app that users love for its high quality of singles. But this doesn’t happen by chance — when the app was first created, singles could only join after going through a screening process. When a potential user applied to join the app, 20 random existing members were asked to rate their profile on a scale of 1 to 5. Only those rated a 3 or higher were allowed to join. Once your profile was approved, you were free to like messages on others’ profiles.
Amanda faced criticism for its rating process, as some felt the app encouraged a superficial view of attractiveness by having members rate each other so harshly. However, many users appreciated that the rating helped keep the app safer and free from fake profiles. It also boosted users’ confidence, especially women, in dating their matches. Knowing that others rated their potential partner as attractive added reassurance. Recently, Amanda removed the rating system, but the tradition of maintaining high standards on the app continues.
The app is entirely in the Korean language, which makes it a tricky option for speakers of other languages. And with the users tending to prioritize Korean beauty standards, meeting partners can prove difficult for other ethnicities.
4. Tinder for Korea
Tinder is a powerhouse anywhere you go. So it’s unsurprising that the dating app has found success in South Korea. Still, the company has specialized its offerings to serve the specific needs and interests of South Korean singles, allowing users to filter matches for similar habits and job interests so that their potential matches have a higher level of compatibility.
In South Korea, Tinder isn’t only a dating app, either. The app now has a feature to find friends, making it a useful lifestyle tool for finding platonic relationships online.
Additionally, Tinder is friendly to English speakers in Korea, and its passport feature makes it easy to switch between locations for people who travel or move frequently. If you’re a foreigner interested in dating South Koreans, or plan to move to the country, Tinder is a great option for finding friends or partners.
5. Korea Social
While Korea Social is a popular app for South Korean singles in its own right, it’s especially popular for Korean American singles or Koreans in other parts of the diaspora.
The online dating app has a traditional swiping and liking framework, but with a twist: users upload a video of themselves as the primary part of their dating profile instead of a single staged photo. By using the power of video to introduce themselves and get to know others, singles are able to get a better sense of their potential matches’ personalities instead of relying solely on how they look.
The Korea Social dating app is also a great option for singles looking to make a new friend online. Instead of just direct messaging, users can access public group chats where they can meet a variety of people organically. When you find a match, you’re free to use text, photos, and video to communicate one on one.
6. EME Hive
We couldn’t leave EME Hive, the go-to dating platform for Asians living in Western nations, off the list. The app has a large Asian American base so Koreans in the United States can find partners with similar backgrounds. EME Hive was designed for Asians struggling to find partners who share their cultural values, relationship expectations, mother tongue, religion, and more.
The online dating app made waves with the release of a live streaming feature that allows individuals or groups to go live. Whether you’re looking for a serious Korean partner or just want to find a community of other Asians online, EME Hive’s innovative network can introduce you to a community with plenty of opportunities for connection and love.
7. DangYeonSi
DangYeonSi is an effective Korean dating app for its nearly 2 million users to find partners, and it’s also entertaining. The app is intended for Koreans, so a working knowledge of the language is necessary to understand functions and profiles. If you understand Korean, this is an app you won’t want to miss.
When you create a dating profile, you fill out a variety of personal information to tell other users a bit about yourself. Then the fun starts. You can use a tournament function to pick your preferred match from 16 profiles. The tournament function can be very validating when you get picked, but it can also make it more difficult to find partners on the app if you keep getting passed up.
The dating platform currently has a 4.3-star rating on the App Store, and it’s growing more popular among young Korean singles.
8. KoreanCupid
Powered by Cupid Media, KoreanCupid is a favorite for singles abroad and in South Korea looking to find a Korean partner. This Korean dating site has been around since 2004, making it an established authority in online Korean dating with thousands of happy couples under its belt.
Singles can browse online profiles from the site before even signing up, which makes it easy to get a sense of the type of people on the platform and its ease of use. Users on KoreanCupid are of all ages, though it does seem to skew older than some of the more innovative apps. While there are Korean men and foreign women on the app, it’s largely popular with foreign men and Korean women. The Asian dating site has options for both English and Korean, which makes it friendly to native Koreans and foreigners alike.
9. OkCupid
Not to be confused with KoreanCupid, OkCupid has become a very successful dating app in South Korea. While the app is popular in the United States and elsewhere, its detailed profiles and questionnaire focus on building serious relationships, real friendships, and interesting conversations. That has helped the app to really shine within Korean dating culture. Singles love how easy it is to find users on the app who are looking for meaningful connections.
Given its American origin, OkCupid is also fairly friendly to foreigners who may have a harder time with the Korean language and want something that functions in English. No matter where you are, you can find singles chasing true love on OkCupid.
FAQs: What is the Best Dating Site for Serious Relationships in South Korea?
While opinions may vary regarding the absolute best dating app in the country, we think it’s safe to say that eharmony is a clear front-runner for Koreans seeking a serious relationship. Its unique compatibility matching software is extraordinarily effective at helping singles find true love.
Whether you’re looking for a Korean boyfriend or girlfriend or even a future spouse, eharmony has proven itself to be a high-quality dating site for Korean singles looking for a long-term relationship. If you’re a Korean single looking for love, eharmony may be the right place to search.
What Is Korean Dating Culture Like?
Korean dating culture is far more focused on building long-term relationships than is the dating culture in the United States or Western Europe. While dating etiquette is looser among the younger generation in South Korea than it once was, it’s still relatively traditional compared with American dating. PDA is less common, and couples tend to move slower sexually and move faster through the stages of a relationship.
The rules of dating among Korean people are more clearly defined, making the types of dating apps and the way they are used different from the variety of hook-up apps popular in the US. The expectation in Korea is that most people are looking for love, not just sex.
Luckily, plenty of foreign dating apps have tailored their offerings to serve Korean singles, and entrepreneurs within South Korea have created their own Korean dating apps to better serve Korean culture and incorporate the Korean language in addition to English.
Online dating is very popular in South Korea and among Koreans living abroad, so singles have popularized unique and effective dating apps you’re sure to enjoy. With so many innovative platforms, you can easily find fellow Korean singles looking for meaningful connections, a new friend, or even true love. If you’re a single man or woman in South Korea, these dating apps are for you.
Which Dating Sites for South Koreans Are Free, Safe & Legit?
Many dating sites in South Korea have free options, and we have seen little evidence of fraud and phishing being rampant issues on dating apps.
Singles concerned with the safety of their dating apps should check out a trusted dating service that’s been around a long time. Dating apps like Match and eharmony have been pairing people up for over 20 years now, so they’re a reliable option for finding a partner.
Many Korean singles find that the rating process for the app filters for some fishy and fake profiles before they’re even allowed to join the app. Video chat is another tool that boosts trust and safety online. Apps like EME Hive and Korean Social encourage live streaming and video prior to meeting, which also makes it easier to verify your matches.
Does Tinder Work in Korea?
Tinder absolutely works in South Korea (though for clarity’s sake, none of these apps are known to work in North Korea, where contact with outside nations and social media use is nearly nonexistent). Tinder has even added functions to its app in South Korea to make it more in line with Korean dating culture which prioritizes meaningful connections over casual hookups. Tinder is a popular app for native Koreans, as well as for immigrants to Korea and foreigners passing through.
Korean Dating Sites & Apps Offer Access to New People
Dating apps are a great tool for finding new friends, new dates, or even long-term partners. They’re a fun way to put yourself out there or work on your language skills in a new country. Whether you just moved to South Korea, have lived there all your life, or you’ve moved out of the country and are seeking partners with the same background, Korean dating apps can help you find your person and establish meaningful connections along the way.
Many Korean singles use dating sites and apps to meet new people in their country. Korean singles who go abroad use dating sites to meet those with the same cultural background and values as theirs. Even individuals who don’t yet live in South Korea may find they enjoy getting to know Korean singles online. That’s a great option for singles who are open to the possibility of moving to Korea in the future.
Dating culture varies from nation to nation. Apps that are popular with American singles may not make sense for a Korean audience and vice versa.
