How to schedule a meeting between Seoul and New York

Seoul and New York are one of the hardest pairs for a working day: there is almost no overlap between a normal Korean workday and a normal New York workday. Knowing the gap and the two realistic time slots makes planning much faster.

The time difference. South Korea stays on UTC+9 all year and does not use daylight saving time. New York is on UTC-5 in winter (Eastern Standard Time) and UTC-4 in summer (Eastern Daylight Time). Seoul is therefore 14 hours ahead while New York is on daylight saving time, and 13 hours ahead the rest of the year. In the United States, daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November, so the gap changes on those dates even though Korea does nothing.

The two practical slots. While New York is on daylight saving time: 08:00-09:00 in Seoul is 18:00-19:00 the previous day in New York, and 21:00-22:00 in Seoul is 07:00-08:00 the same day in New York. In winter, the same Seoul slots are 19:00-20:00 the previous day and 08:00-09:00 in New York. A 09:00-18:00 workday in Seoul falls between 19:00 and 04:00 in New York, so someone always has to stretch.

Share the inconvenience. Rotate the slot, for example Seoul takes the evening call one week and New York takes the evening call the next. Avoid placing every meeting at the same hour for the same person.

Mind the date. Because Seoul is almost a day ahead, a Monday morning in Seoul is still Sunday evening in New York, and a Friday evening in New York is already Saturday morning in Seoul. Write both dates in the invitation, for example "Tue 21:30 Seoul / Tue 07:30 New York".

Check holidays on both sides. Korea has multi-day breaks around Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok, plus fixed days such as Liberation Day on August 15 and Hangul Day on October 9, and substitute days can extend them. The United States has federal holidays such as Independence Day on July 4, Labor Day in September and Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Add both cities to TeamOffDays and check the calendar and the Upcoming Holidays list before you send the invitation.

Use the app. Add Seoul and New York to your list. The status badge shows at a glance whether the other side is open, at lunch, off hours or on a weekend or holiday right now. If you work with specific colleagues, register them on the People tab with their sleep, lunch and work hours so that you can see who is reachable before you write.