KTX Tickets: How to Book as a Foreigner

Since 1 October 2026 Korail sells KTX tickets two months ahead (it was one month). Book on Korail's English site with a Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card. If the card fails, buy at a station ticket window instead. Korail has not said why individual cards fail. We read Korail's English pages and notice list on 12 October 2026 and its press releases on 11 October 2026. For which train to pick, see our route guide.

Booking: Since 1 Oct 2026, tickets go on sale at 07:00, two months before the train. The window was one month before (Korail press release, 8 Oct 2026, read 11 Oct 2026; Korail English ticketing guide, read 12 Oct 2026)

What Korail's English pages say

We opened Korail's English ticketing guide and its English booking page. Both are on korail.com/global/eng.

Booking: Buy on the Korail website, in the KORAIL+ app, at ticket vending machines or at station ticket counters. Subway stations do not sell KTX tickets (Korail English ticketing guide, read 11 Oct 2026)

Hours: Tickets go on sale at 07:00, two months before the departure date. Korail's page does not name a time zone, and we read it as Korea time (same guide)

Note: Our calculation, not Korail's: 07:00 in Korea is 15:00 the day before in US Pacific time while daylight saving is on, and 14:00 in winter

Price: Payment: "credit card" (Korail English ticketing guide). To see a ticket again, you enter the email address and password you used to book, with the same capital letters

The English booking page says you can check trains and buy tickets up to two months ahead. We searched Seoul to Busan for 12 October 2026. The list showed the train type, the train number, the times and the travel time. It showed "Economy class" and "First class" as two buttons, and some trains said "Sold out". The fare did not show in that list. We stopped there and did not buy.

Where the sources disagree

Some details differ between Korail's pages, its press releases and news reports. We list them here.

The two-month window and the holiday trains

Korail's press release of 8 October 2026 says the window for foreign riders went from one month to two months on 1 October 2026. A news report says the transport ministry and Korail announced it on 20 September 2026. Foreign visitors often buy flights two months ahead, and the report gives that as the reason.

Holiday trains work differently. For Chuseok 2026, Korail said holiday tickets could be booked by members only. Korail's English notice list also had a notice titled "2026 Chuseok Holiday Train Ticket Reservations", dated 14 August 2026, which we did not open. For Seollal, see our holiday calendar page.

If your card is rejected

Korail does not publish a list of reasons. These steps are our suggestions, and we have not tested them on a rejected card.

1. Check the Korail English notice list for a new card notice. On 11 October 2026 the newest one about cards was the 21 August notice.

2. Try again later. The only official card outage we found was a two-hour maintenance window.

3. Try another card, and use a credit card, not a debit card or a wallet. Korail's guide says credit card.

4. Buy at a station ticket window. Counters sell until departure. You can do this when you arrive.

5. Call Korail on +82-1599-7777 (08:00 to 20:00). The page lists no English-only line, so we do not know the language service.

6. For general travel help, the 1330 Korea Travel Helpline lists English service (VisitKorea page, undated).

We also do not know whether a bank's 3D Secure step or a foreign-transaction block causes the failure. Your card issuer may be able to see the decline reason.

What else Korail changed in September 2026

Korail merged the KTX and SRT high-speed services on 1 September 2026. Its press releases from 2 and 18 September 2026 say you can now search every high-speed train in one app, KORAIL+. They also say booking went from 7 steps to 4. The 8 October press release says Korail plans to go from 7 languages to 10 in November 2026. For which station your train uses, see our station guide.

What is checked here and what is not

Checked on 11 October 2026: Korail's English ticketing guide, its English booking page and the train list it showed, its English notice list and the notice of 21 August 2026, and Korail press releases of 2 September, 18 September and 8 October 2026 on info.korail.com. We also read a news report of the 20 September 2026 announcement and a card company's blog post that repeats it.

Not checked: whether a given foreign card will work, why a card fails, whether the station vending machines take foreign cards, the fare for any train, whether the newer change and refund rules apply to English-site tickets, the Seollal 2027 sale dates, and what resellers charge. We did not buy a ticket, and we did not read traveller forums for this page.

Re-checked on 12 October 2026: Korail's English ticketing guide (07:00, two months ahead, credit card) and its English notice list, whose newest card notice is still the one of 21 August 2026. We did not re-open the press releases on 12 October.

Re-checked on 4 November 2026, for the fare:

• Korail's press release of 5 August 2026: from 1 September 2026 the KTX fare from Seoul to Busan is ₩54,400, down from ₩59,800, and Yongsan to Gwangju Songjeong ₩42,000, down from ₩46,800. The release does not name the seat class.

Korail's live fare search showed a block for unusual activity on 4 November 2026, so we did not see the fare for a single train.

So, the fare is Korail's own figure, and the card advice is still our suggestion, not Korail's.