Korea runs on a 220V electrical system, not 110V like the US. The receptacles here are also not formatted the same way. This means that you will need adapters and/or converters to use your electricity-powered equipment. Keep in mind that there is a difference between an “adapter” and a “converter”. An adapter converts the plug without converting the power. Adapters are used for equipment like laptop computers and other electronic equipment. Look on your power cord to be sure. If your power cord has a converter on it, it will usually have a little box somewhere in the length of the cord. Either on the plug itself or on the box, it will say “110V-220V” if it automatically converts power. If your device does automatically convert, it is still a good idea to buy a surge protected adapter, especially for major devices like a computer. Otherwise, you will also need a converter or an adapter/converter combo, preferably with a “lo/hi” switch for different amperage capacities. That way you can use both low amperage devices (electric shaver charger) and high amperage devices (coffee maker, curling iron). By the way, I hear foreign hair dryers don’t work all that well, but that is an unconfirmed detail. I can confirm that alarm clocks from America are destined to fail for reasons unknown to me.
Before you spend too much money on an adapter, please know that they have them in the bookstore here for about 200 won (20 cents...very cheap), but they are not surge protected or grounded. This means that the adapters here cannot be used with any three-pronged plugs, only two pronged. To my knowledge, they don't sell converters on the campus here.
