Dining after midnight in Korea

Seoul has earned a reputation as a city that never sleeps, and its overnight workers, students and partygoers alike need sustenance to make it through.

South Korea's capital and most populous city offers plenty of ways to eat close to midnight or in the wee hours, but in other regions, too, there are ways to get a late bite, albeit with more limited options.

Considered the country's main gateway, Incheon Airport has a number of restaurants, cafes and fast food joints on its premises. Most operate until 10 p.m., but some are open around the clock.

The airport website provides information on the operating hours of these eateries, with the mark "24H" indicating which ones are open all night. To access this information, visit the Incheon Airport homepage, switch to English, then click on "At the Airport" and navigate to the "Food & Beverage" page. Choose which part of the airport you're visiting -- Terminal 1, Terminal 2 or the Concourse -- to see restaurant operating hours.

Those entering the country through Gimpo International Airport can go to the airport's facilities information page and choose the "Restaurant" section. There are no eateries open 24 hours there, but the one open the longest is Lotteria, open between 4:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m.

The smaller Gimhae International Airport, serving the southeastern region near Busan, also does not have restaurants open around the clock. All eateries there close at 9 p.m., but New York Burger on the first floor opens the earliest at 5:30 a.m.

Most restaurants that offer delivery have partnerships with major delivery mobile applications, with the three most commonly used apps being Baemin, Coupang Eats and Yogiyo. Baemin, the most popular app with 21 million users, does not have an English option, but the other two do.

All three apps prompt you to enter an address for your food delivery, and then recommend eateries that are close by. You can see the time they operate, the average user rating out of five stars, the distance from your location, the delivery fee, and the estimated delivery time.

Keep in mind that all delivery apps charge delivery fees of varying amounts, which can be waived for those subscribing to a paid monthly membership.

Coupang Eats waives delivery fees for members of its Coupang Wow premium service, as does Baemin with its Baemin Club program. Yogiyo also has the Yogi Pass X, which exempts delivery fees for orders worth at least 15,000 won ($10.40). Check the benefits and price of each monthly membership to see if a subscription would be beneficial for you.

If you wish to find eateries open all night long, instead of browsing restaurants in the apps by name, input "24 si" (open 24 hours) in Korean. The applications will show you all the restaurants that have been registered as being open around the clock.

When using applications such as Google Maps and Naver Map, searching "24 si sikdang" (restaurants open 24 hours) will allow you to see which of these restaurants are nearby. You can also combine this phrase with a location of interest -- for example, "24 si sikdang Seoul yeok" (restaurants open 24 hours Seoul Station).

This trick is limited when the apps are set to English, so being able to read or write Korean to some extent would significantly expand your options.

Most eateries open at night serve dishes that are considered "yasik," or a nighttime snack. Many of these are typically enjoyed with alcohol, such as Chinese food, chicken and jokbal (pig trotters cooked with soy sauce and spices).

But you can find all kinds of 24-hour eateries -- even Korean traditional food -- in areas with a lot of foot traffic such as around Gangnam Station or the Hongdae area.

Restaurants open around the clock are very rare in towns with small populations. For example, Yeongwol-gun in Gangwon Province, which has fewer than 40,000 residents, has no restaurants -- and only a few coffee shops -- registered on Naver Map as being open 24 hours a day.