iPhone 4 from Europe in South Korea

There is GOOD NEWS for people with iPhones bringing them into Korea!

As long as it's factory unlocked, you CAN get your iPhone to work in Korea. The best way is to go to a KT global store and first have your iPhone's IMEI registered into the Korean directory. This is NOW FREE, one foreign IMEI registration per person. Then you should be able to proceed in getting a micro sim card and catching network signal, again, assuming your iPhone is factory unlocked. No extra fees. It's just like activating a new phone in Korea, except you don't have to pay for a phone since you have your iPhone.

I bought my iPhone in France and am currently using it in Korea. It works fine! Regards~

Thank you, Kyu Kim, for the FANTASTIC news. My Korean students here in China have been [playfully] taunting me that I will have to pay 600,000 krw to use my iPhone when I move to Suwon in July. Do you have a link to support the information you provided about the KT global store? I'd love to have the last laugh with my kids at the end-of-the-year class party :-D

Nevermind, Kyu Kim. Thanks to your excellent information, I was able to locate the link myself (in English, no less!)

http://expatblog.kt.com/36

However, I am curious, Kyu Kim: you purchased the phone in France which is a GSM network, right? But you have no difficulty using it in Korea? I thought that Korea was working exclusively on CDMA networks. Does this not matter with a 3G phone?

You're correct nsudburo. All iPhones from 3GS on will work in Korea as long as your 3G is on. CDMA exclusive iPhones will NOT work in Korea as all Korean phones take SIM cards.

As the expat KT blog will tell you, your best bet is to go straight to a olleh KT 'global store' to get you a Korean micro SIM, registered, and activated on the network.

Best of luck.

Thank you so much, Kyu Kim!!! That is truly excellent news!

Thank you so much, Kyu Kim!!! That is truly excellent news!

SHOW (which is now Olleh) is an operator that uses W-CDMA but no GSM. Korea and Japan are probably the only countries in the world where the W-CDMA operators do not have any GSM network.

While SantaSinghIN may be correct, olleh (KT) does support iPhones with micro-SIM cards meaning any factory unlocked phone with a SIM slot should technically work in Korea: my own case being a legitimate example.

Hi Kwopau,

I understand that your topic is about getting iPhone in other country and unlock in Korea, but my question is actually the other way around and hope someone could answer it:

Is iPhone 4S from KT & SK Telekom officially unlocked and can be use in other country? I am working in Seoul now, and will be back to my country (Malaysia) 3 months later. I wanted to buy an iPhone 4S here, but would it be a problem if i go back my country and insert Malaysia's sim card?

Can Korean iPhone 4S it be used worldwide?

Pop^o,

It is my understanding that most newer phones in Korea on both KT and SK come unlocked, however I have not been able to verify this. Since both telecom companies have international service now, you are best off asking their customer service.

What you need to ask is if Korean iPhone 4S comes factory unlocked.

Another possible method to test whether the Korean iPhones come unlocked is to try this: I would assume if you can stick an SK SIM card in a KT iPhone, or vice-versa, and it works, then it is in fact unlocked.

Best of luck, and safe travels back to Malaysia.

Hi Kyu Kim,

Thanks for your advise, i will try to check it tomorrow. Actually i walked into a SK shop today and talked to the sales person but it's after 6p.m. (customer service closes at 6p.m.), and found it very difficult to communicate as they don't really understand what am I saying.

Guess what...i tried the best gesture....and found that the worst part is they do not allow for any testing on sim card before buying the phone, so I have no way to test unless i buy it....

Anyhow, i will try to talk to the customer service again....thanks...:)

It's not SK, but I think this might be helpful:

https://twitter.com/#!/olleh_expats

You ought to make friends with iPhone 4S owners on both networks! ^^

Hi Kyu Kim,

It doesn't matter to me whether it's SK or KT, as long as it is fact unlock and can be used in other countries.

Fount a post from the source you gave :"Your phones should be unlocked straight out of the box 🙂", do you think it's reliable?