The Ultimate Guide to Free Korean Fonts

Looking for a unique, eye-catching Korean font for your next project or business venture? Did you know that, due to the nature of hangeul (the Korean script), fonts typically require over a year to create? This leads to some very strict copyright laws surrounding Korean font usage, making them somewhat difficult to find and use.

Copyright issues have become a real headache for small business owners, but not to worry! As of 2025, there are over 500 high-quality Korean fonts available for free, with no copyright concerns at all.

Choosing the wrong font can still lead to claims demanding compensation. In this guide, we’ll show you how to brand safely and beautifully using free Korean fonts.

What Makes Korean Fonts So Hard to Find?

Hangeul allows for 11,172 different characters to be made out of combos of their 24 basic letters. Because of this, Korean fonts require an average font file size of 22MB. On the web, Korean fonts need to be split into over 200 chunks for progressive loading. This is much more complicated than any fonts that use the Latin alphabet!

The Reality of Font Copyright Disputes

Did you know? In the past 5 years, more than 12,000 schools in Korea were involved in font-related lawsuits worth hundreds of billions of Korean won (hundreds of millions of USD). Most schools ended up settling by purchasing font packages worth around ₩2.75 million (approximately $2,000 USD).

The real shocker, though, comes from the court rulings surrounding these lawsuits. In 2021, the Seoul Central District Court capped the compensation amount for unauthorized font use at just ₩500,000 (approximately $350 USD), a stark contrast to the millions of won that font companies were demanding from schools.

Since then, Korea’s free font ecosystem has exploded. Font platforms like Noonnu now receive over 500,000 visits per month, and there's a wide range of options available from brands like Naver Nanum Fonts, Google Fonts, and BaeMin Fonts.

Three Reasons Why Free Fonts Are Booming in Korea

1) Strong Support from Government and Corporations

The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism partnered with Microsoft to integrate 12 copyright-free Korean fonts into MS Office. These fonts are now available to 81 million Korean speakers worldwide.

The company Baedal Minjok (commonly shortened to just BaeMin) has released 13 fonts since 2012 that are all free to use, and Café24 now offers 19 fonts optimized for e-commerce that now have over 3 million downloads.

2) Innovations in AI Technology

Korean AI models like SKFont and CKFont can now generate all 11,172 Hangul combinations from just 114 sample characters. Font development for Korean scripts used to take a full year to complete, but now the process can be entirely automated. As these AI tools continue to develop, soon small business owners and independent artists will be able to easily create their own custom hangeul fonts.

3) Clearer Legal Guidelines

In a 2022 ruling, the Changwon District Court stated that if the license for a font’s usage is unclear, copyright infringement claims cannot be upheld. This ruling forced font companies to clearly state their usage licenses.

Korean Font Recommendations by Industry

Cafés & Restaurants

• Café24 SsyongSsyong Font:]This font’s rounded, friendly style is perfect for casual café vibes.

• Nanum Barun Gothic: This font conveys trust and is a great option for restaurants serving traditional Korean food.

• Noto Sans KR: This font has high levels of contrast and readability, making it ideal for menu boards.

Beauty & Fashion

• Baemin Hanna Font: With its trendy and youthful vibe, this font is great for beauty shops targeting Gen Z.

• Seoul Font’s elegant, traditional Korean aesthetic makes it suitable for luxury brands.

• Gmarket Sans is clean and modern, making it perfect for price tags.

Medical & Education

• Nanum Gothic: This font is the industry standard for healthcare, making it a safe and reliable choice.

• IBM Plex Sans Korean has excellent readability for both digital and print materials.

• Café24 Dongdong Font has a friendly tone, which makes it a great choice for children’s educational content.

Font Copyright Risk Management Checklist

While it’s always important to make sure you clearly understand the usage terms of any fonts that you’re using for commercial or personal purposes, Korean font developers often have especially strict terms of use. Due to the amount of time and effort that it takes to develop Korean fonts, these companies actively search for illegal usage of their fonts all across the Internet. To avoid getting slapped with a hefty fine or copyright claim, you should immediately delete any fonts that…

1. …were downloaded from torrents or illegal sites.

2. …are labeled "for personal use only" but are being used commercially.

3. …were embedded in unfamiliar online PDFs.

Font Licensing Info to Double Check

• SIL Open Font License (OFL): This is the safest option! It allows for commercial use, modification, and redistribution.

• Custom Free Licenses: These are generally friendly for commercial use, but always be sure to read the fine print. Fonts made by BaeMin generally fall under this category.

• Font Files vs. Typeface Design: In Korea, typeface design itself is not protected by copyright. Only the font software is! This means that if a font is manually recreated or found in a photograph, it does not count as a copyright infringement.

Smarter Branding with Tidy-B

Feeling overwhelmed by all this font and branding work? Concerned about legal issues with foreign font companies?

Tidy-B is an AI-powered all-in-one branding platform that handles everything from brand strategy and font selection to logo design and marketing assets. Just answer a few simple questions, and the AI tool will generate a safe-to-use, custom font combination and style guide for your brand, including foreign languages! Our program can generate custom logos, advertisements, and more, all in multiple languages.

All fonts recommended by Tidy-B, in any language, are verified for commercial use, so you can brand confidently without copyright concerns. Plus, our industry-specific recommendations make the service incredibly convenient.

When to Consider Switching to Paid Fonts

It may be a worthwhile investment to start using paid font services when…

• …your annual revenue exceeds approximately $70,000 USD.

• …you need professional marketing materials.

• …brand consistency becomes a priority.

If you’ve reached this point, then you might want to consider premium services like Adobe Fonts, which is included in certain subscriptions to Adobe Creative Cloud, or Sandoll Fonts, a leading Korean font service. Google Fonts is another option that is entirely free, and includes a wide variety of hangeul options.

Safe, Stylish Branding with Korean Fonts

As of 2025, small businesses and independent creators have access to over 500 high-quality free Korean fonts to choose from. Start with trusted options like Nanum Gothic or Noto Sans KR for easy-to-read copy text, and then differentiate your designs with unique, charming fonts from developers like BaeMin or Café24.

Copyright risk can be managed by using clearly licensed fonts from safe sources. And remember, actual court rulings for font copyright infringement cases have shown settlements between $300-$500, which is far lower than the thousands of dollars that some companies have demanded.

What really matters isn’t finding the “perfect” font, but rather the right, safe choice for your brand. Using automated branding tools like Tidy-B make picking legal fonts that attract attention and communicate your business’s character easy and painless.

Fonts aren’t just tools. They’re the voice of your brand and the first impression left on your customer. Make a safe, smart choice to take your brand to the next level!

Have you ever struggled with font copyright issues? Do you have any favorite free fonts to recommend? Share them in the comments!