When it is 09:00 in Seoul it is 08:00 in Manila in January and 08:00 in July. Manila is 1 hour behind Seoul right now — and the difference is the same all year. This page gives the live times in both cities, the overlap between their working days, the daylight saving dates that move the difference, and the best meeting windows.

Try the tool: Time Zone Converter — convert any time between Seoul and Manila, with the offset for the date you pick.

Live times in Seoul and Manila

The two cities side by side. The January column uses the winter offsets (Seoul UTC+09:00, Manila UTC+08:00); the July column uses the summer offsets (Seoul UTC+09:00, Manila UTC+08:00).

Time in Seoul Manila in January Manila in July
00:00 23:00 23:00
06:00 05:00 05:00
09:00 08:00 08:00
12:00 11:00 11:00
15:00 14:00 14:00
17:00 16:00 16:00
21:00 20:00 20:00

The world clock shows the current time in both cities live, and the individual city pages — time in Seoul and time in Manila — explain each city's time zone, offsets and daylight saving in full.

The time difference between Seoul and Manila

The difference is constant: Manila is 1 hour behind Seoul on every day of the year. That is the simplest case in time-zone work — the answer does not depend on the date, and a meeting set for 09:00 in Seoul is always 08:00 in Manila. The reason the difference never changes is that neither city observes daylight saving.

To convert a time, add the difference: 09:00 in Seoul is 08:00 in Manila in January and 08:00 in July; 17:00 in Seoul — the end of the working day — is 16:00 in Manila in January and 16:00 in July. To go the other way, subtract it: 09:00 in Manila is 10:00 in Seoul in January. The time difference calculator does the arithmetic for any date, and the UTC to Manila page gives the full conversion table for Manila.

Meeting overlap between Seoul and Manila

The overlap is the hours when both cities are in their working day (09:00–17:00 local time). The table marks the overlapping hours in Seoul's working day and shows what time they are in Manila.

January

Seoul time Manila time Both working?
09:00 08:00 No
10:00 09:00 No
11:00 10:00 No
12:00 11:00 No
13:00 12:00 No
14:00 13:00 No
15:00 14:00 No
16:00 15:00 No

In January the overlap is 0 hours: there is no hour when both cities are in their working day. In July it is 0 hours: there is no hour when both cities are in their working day. The two working days do not overlap at all — the difference is too large. The only options are to meet at the edge of the day, to rotate the awkward hour, or to record the meeting.

Daylight saving in Seoul and Manila

Seoul does not observe daylight saving, so its offset of UTC+09:00 never changes.

Manila does not observe daylight saving, so its offset of UTC+08:00 never changes.

The difference never changes, so there is no date on which a standing meeting moves. That does not mean the difference is the same as the difference with a third city — the difference between Seoul and London, for example, may still move when London changes its clocks. The individual DST pages — Seoul DST 2026 and Manila DST 2026 — give the exact dates for each city.

Best meeting windows

There is no window inside both working days, in January or in July. The least-bad options are the edges: 08:00 in Seoul is 07:00 in Manila in January — before the working day in Seoul but a reasonable evening in Manila — and 17:00 in Seoul is 16:00 in Manila, which is the morning in Manila the next day if the difference is large. Rotate the early start between the two sides, week by week, so the same people are not always the ones getting up early.

Calling and travel notes

When it is 09:00 in Seoul it is 08:00 in Manila in January; when it is 12:00 in Seoul it is 11:00 in Manila; when it is 17:00 in Seoul it is 16:00 in Manila. The difference is under 12 hours, so the two cities are usually on the same date — but check the date for late-evening and early-morning times, when the date can differ by a day. Scheduling inside Asia is usually straightforward: most Asian countries do not observe daylight saving, so the difference between Seoul and Manila never changes. The working days overlap for most of the day, and the only thing to check is the date: when the difference is large enough, the two cities can be on different dates for part of the day.

Worked conversions

Six conversions, for January (offsets Seoul UTC+09:00, Manila UTC+08:00):

Seoul Manila
08:00 07:00
09:00 08:00
12:00 11:00
14:00 13:00
17:00 16:00
20:00 19:00

In July, the answers are the same. For the reverse direction, see Manila to Seoul time.

Seoul and Manila at a glance

Fact Seoul Manila
Country South Korea Philippines
Region Asia Asia
IANA time zone Asia/Seoul Asia/Manila
Standard offset UTC+09:00 UTC+08:00
Daylight saving offset — does not observe — does not observe
Offset in January 2026 UTC+09:00 UTC+08:00
Offset in July 2026 UTC+09:00 UTC+08:00
Observes daylight saving No No

The table is the whole pair in one place. The two numbers that matter most are the January and July offsets: if they are the same in both columns for a city, that city's offset never changes; if they differ, the city observes daylight saving and the difference between the cities moves with it. The individual city pages — time in Seoul and time in Manila — explain each city's time zone, and the DST pages — Seoul DST 2026 and Manila DST 2026 — give the exact change dates.

Frequently asked questions

What is the time difference between Seoul and Manila?

Manila is 1 hour behind Seoul right now. In January the difference is 1 hour behind and in July it is 1 hour behind — it is the same all year.

How do I schedule a recurring meeting between Seoul and Manila?

Pick a time inside the overlap — the edge of the day, since there is no overlap — and set the calendar event in UTC so it moves correctly when the clocks change. Re-check the overlap in March and October, when the difference moves, and rotate the time if the meeting falls outside someone's working day.

What time is it in Manila when it is 09:00 in Seoul?

It is 08:00 in January and 08:00 in July. The time zone converter gives the answer for any date.

What is the best time for a meeting between Seoul and Manila?

There is no hour inside both working days. Meet at the edge of the day — early morning in one city, evening in the other — and rotate the awkward hour.

Does the time difference between Seoul and Manila change during the year?

No. The difference is 1 hour behind all year, because neither city observes daylight saving.

What time is it in Seoul when it is 09:00 in Manila?

It is 10:00 in January and 10:00 in July. See Manila to Seoul time for the full comparison from Manila's side.

What are the time zones of Seoul and Manila?

Seoul is in Asia/Seoul (UTC+09:00 standard time) and Manila is in Asia/Manila (UTC+08:00 standard time).

What time is it in Seoul when it is midnight in Manila?

It is 01:00 in Seoul in January and 01:00 in July — the previous day, because Manila is ahead of Seoul. Midnight conversions are the ones that most often land on the wrong date, so always check the date as well as the time.

Sources

  • IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (Intl.DateTimeFormat with timeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory.
  • TimeFlow's own time-zone data (data/cities.ts, data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database.
  • TimeFlow's time zone converter and meeting planner — the live tools behind the numbers on this page.
  • Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.