But if you are traveling to South Korea from the US you will find that — despite their big gaming culture — there are games you won’t be able to play while there. That is if you’re not using a virtual private network (VPN). Note: My team and I don’t condone illegal behavior of any sort and the protection of a VPN doesn’t give you license to commit illegal acts. Please exercise a basic level of caution when using a VPN in South Korea.

South Korea’s Gaming Culture

South Korea’s gaming culture is an astonishing sight from the outside looking in. Professional games are seen as A-list celebrities. Their competitions are shown on national television and played to capacity crowds in sporting arenas. Top-flight gamers date Asian supermodels and make enormous salaries. In 2008, the online gaming industry earned $1.1 billion in exports. The entire gaming industry is worth $5 billion a year, and games like StarCraft have sold more than 4.5 million copies in country. South Korea has two 24-hour video-game television networks. There are 10 professional gaming leagues and gaming is so intense that in 2011 the government enacted a Cinderella Law that prevents anyone less than 16 from playing online games between 12 a.m. – 6 a.m. As of early 2019, all VPNs are legal in South Korea and none have been taken down due to censorship by the government.

1CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost VPN could be thought of as a candidate for best VPN for Korea because of its speed, generosity, number of servers, and impressive security details. Finding remote servers in the US is rarely a problem for any VPN, but CyberGhost makes it a snap with more than 3,000 VPN servers. Based in Romania, which has its own servers, meaning there’s no chance of any third-party spying being done by a host server.  Security is also really strong for CyberGhost, which boasts 256-bit encryption and has full-fledged security packages for all platforms and devices. Users can connect up to seven devices at a time, so if you have six friends who also like digital games, they’re in luck. Try Now Risk Free

2IPVanish VPN

IPVanish VPN will have no problem making its case as being the best VPN for the USA, since it was founded there in 1999. With a strict no-logs policy, it assuages some questions about having a US-based VPN. It allows for unlimited server switching when you’re trying to find that connection that is “just right” and there’s a 7-day money-back guarantee as part of the initial package. Get it Now

3Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN

Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN also is headquartered in the US, making it a solid choice for being the best VPN for Canada as well as the rest of North America. But like other US-based VPN providers, customers find the close proximity to Washington D.C. does not diminish their potency. Private Internet Access has more than 3,000 servers across 200 locations and 25 countries. The speed is solid and it has top-level encryption, along with a kill switch and DNS leak protection. On the bottom line, Private Internet Access is quite affordable, has good speeds and allows up to five connected devices at once. Get it Now