Korea has an enormous couple culture. It’s all about your significant other in Korea. There’s matching couple outfits, shoes, couple apps, rings, and the list goes on and on. You can get couple rings whenever, but the 100 day mark is when many couples decide to take the leap and get one. When you’ve weathered 100 days together it means that you’re able to commit and that’s why you should get Korean couple rings.

Blog Posts You Might Like

What Are Couple Rings?

Korean couple rings are a declaration of love to the world. It means you have a significant other. Rings are a flashy way to be like, “This is MINE.” I originally wanted to wear mine on my middle finger because I thought it was funny, but my (now ex) partner insisted we be proper and wear them on our left ring fingers. In the west, a ring on your special left finger means engagement or marriage, but in Korea, it’s hard to tell if the couple is dating or married. I noticed many older couples don’t wear wedding bands and the younger couples wear rings.

Rings are seen as a sign of eternal commitment in Western countries. I was asked if I was engaged/married, but I’m not. Part of trying to fit in with Korean society is assimilating.

couple rings 6

Where To Go

The most popular place is the Jogno 3-ga Jewlery District in Seoul. They have a HUGE selection of wholesale jewelers. It’s super popular amongst couples looking for rings and foreign tourists looking for jewelery at low prices. They have rings for about 30-40% cheaper than most jewelery outlets in Korea. One of the great parts about Korea is they are fantastic copycats. As soon as the newest designs of jewelery come out from top brands like Tiffany&Co nearly identical pieces will be featured in the shops. I couldn’t take pictures, but I did see some amazing copies.

couple rings 5

Can you barter at a Korean jewelry store?

The answer is yes. Bring a native speaker with you because they’re much better at negotiating seeing as they have communication in the native language on their side. One of the great parts of shopping for couple rings in Korea is you can bargain for the price you want. It’s a buyer’s market as there are 700-1,000 shops located in a one kilometer proximity. We visited four shops and looked at many different designs. Each shop offers something unique like putting in shinier gems, engraving your initials, or designing your own ring.

Klook.com

Recommendations

You have to take price, quality and design into account when shopping for your rings. Some shops were giving us huge discounts but the quality wasn’t as good. Other stores offered to replace gems with shinier crystals. The salesmen and women play a hard game to make the sale so don’t be persuaded by their smiles and charm. Look at the jewelry and make sure it’s in your price range and exactly what you want. Since we were just looking at couple rings, the stones in our rings are not real. What you’re paying for is the quality of the metal. Of course they offer rings with diamonds in them but they are more pricey.

Resizing

It’s no secret western fingers are larger than Asian ones. If you’re shopping for couple rings, wedding rings, engagement rings, allow at least one week to resize the ring.  Believe me, it’s worth the wait.

couple rings 3

Cost

Couple rings can cost anywhere from 270,000 won to 500,000 won. It depends on the metal, gems, and quality you choose. We chose 14k white gold and our rings were about 340,000 with our names engraved on the inside. Since it takes two to tango we split the cost of our rings between the two of us.

Our Rings

I personally love shiny and sparkly things. My ring has gems on the side and a small gem in the middle. I love the knot design. In my opinion, there’s something special about it that means forever. Our rings are 14k white gold with our initials engraved inside. Koreans like simplicity for their rings, but we are a special case. We both have our own style and march to the beat of our own drums. I think our rings are lovely and express our unique relationship.

couple rings 2

Don’t Have a Boo?

No problem! You can find plenty of amazing jewelry for yourself and really enjoy spoiling yourself. After all, the latest and hottest styles will be on this street for a fraction of the price. Also, you can make your own custom ring as a souvenir and declaration of love to yourself. Alternatively, there’s also a really cool Hangul Necklace making experience in Seoul. You also have the option of making a Korean alphabet bracelet, ring, or even photo frame.

How To Get There

Get off at Jogno 3 Station or Jongak Station. It’s off of lines 1,3,5. Take exit (exit number here). As soon as you get outside you’ll see plenty of jewelry shops. Pick one that works for you and start looking!

Klook.com
Korean Couple

Free Seoul E-Book

Do you love South Korea?

Enter your name and email address and click the button below to receive your Easy Seoul Travel Guide so you can travel like a local!

26 Comments on Korean Couple Rings

  1. So cute! I do remember the matching outfits and many couples taking selfies. It is all about having that special someone and making sure the whole world knows you are attached. I wonder if it is a status symbol as well. Congrats on hitting your 100 day mark and getting rings.

    • Sometimes I wonder if it’s a status symbol as well. For me, I like all those cutesy things. Thanks so much! I hope we have a billion more 😉

    • What a bummer. 🙁 I guess each guy is different. At first I was against it and Aaron agreed, but then I changed my mind and he was excited about it! Hahahaha. I guess I got very lucky to get a go with the flow man.

  2. When we first arrived to Korea I quickly learned about the Korean couple culture, I find some of the things to be quite cute and it’s a pretty fun way to make the beginning of your relationship fun! I’ve seen a few of the couple ring stores, but the few I stumbled upon were pretty tacky looking though. It looks like you guys found some tasteful ones! It would be helpful to those who are interested if you included some of the price ranges you were seeing while shopping!

    • Megan, that is a great suggestion! I will be sure to edit and put the price ranges. The prices were actually quite cheap and good. We honestly don’t like the simple and tacky rings. It’s not our style.

  3. Those are some nice looking rings! I remember being really entertained by the couple culture when I first got to Korea. Some friends and I tried some on just for kicks, but I never took the plunge and participated. Very informative post! 🙂

    • I used to think couple rings were silly but I definitely changed my mind and felt part of an “exclusive clube” when I indulged. Hahaha.

  4. Great post! While I do find it hilarious how childish and superficial the couple culture here tends to be, I do like the idea of couple rings! Your rings are beautiful and definitely something unique compared to anything I’ve seen here. I’ve heard of a few opportunities people have had to make their own rings together, but your process sounds like it was super special. I think adding a price would definitely be helpful. Congrats to you both <3

    • I’m definitely glad we didn’t design our own rings! I have no idea where to start with a design for jewelry! There were also so many options, if we didn’t like something on a ring, the shop also offered to design the ring differently for us. Korea is seriously amazing. It was definitely great to pick them out together and he was such a good sport about it while we looked at different options at different stores.

  5. I love this idea. Although me and my beau have always shied away from the couple culture in Korea I think I’d like to visit this store just for a new piece of jewelry. Can you tell me the address of the store?

    • The store we went to specializes in couple rings and wedding jewelry. The name of the store is Wedding Gem and it’s located right outside Jongak Exit 11. They also carry different kinds of jewelry but not much! Hope this helps!

  6. Those are lovely rings! And yes, unique. Happy for you:-)… enjoy!

    That area is really full of jewelry stores. It could be dizzying hahhaha. You’ve got to stay focused. My! Hubby and I did couple shirts and eventually we are doing these family shirts lol.

    • Wendy, that’s fantastic! I would love to see adorable family shirts. Hahaha. It was tough staying focused but we managed!

  7. This is really interesting! I am now married and do wear my (simple silver) band, however my husband doesn´t as he doesn´t feel comfortable with a ring (I keep it in a drawer with other jewelry, haha, along with the straw ring he made out of grass that day when we engaged) – most people I know do wear rings. However, when we engaged, I got two halves of a round shaped painted seed and had then made as necklaces so each of us has one half. I don´t always wear it (i have eczema on the back of the neck so I don´t really keep anything there all the time) but my husband never takes it off 🙂 It´s more discreet, nobody ever asked for what it was 🙂

    • I really love adorable and cute couple things. Something special for just the two of you is what makes it special. No one knows the meaning except you and your hubby. I definitely think it depends on the man and whether he wants to wear the ring or not. 😉

  8. If you can’t bring a native Korean speaker with you, what do you suggest? I can speak limited/conversational Korean, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough to ask about technical details.

    • I think you can be okay. Some of the representatives in the store speak some English. Other than that, Google translate or find stores that cater to native speakers.

  9. I like a bit of weave in a ring too. 🙂 Yours look great.

    But… it sounds like there is likely tremendous pressure there, if you’re not partnered. I mean, 100 days and already shopping for rings? I’m a pro-early commitment girl, but that’s too much pressure even for me!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.