Noryangjin Fish Market: reading “미” and “kg” together

The Cue

When you read a number at a fish market, read the unit next to it as well. Even if you choose a single fish, its price can be worked out by weight. Ethan asks separately what the price is based on and how much he can eat on his own, then adds the fish price and restaurant costs to work out the total for his meal.

01From Exit 7 into the underpass

Ethan gets off at Noryangjin Station on Line 9 and comes up at Exit 7. Straight ahead for 70 m, then through the underpass, and he is at the market entrance. Coming on Line 1, you would leave by Exit 9 and walk 150 m straight ahead. Ethan chooses the Line 9 side. He will head back towards Exit 7 too. He keeps the way between the market and the station the same, and inside the station he goes to the platform for his direction.

There are twelve entrances on the ground floor (1F). Ethan writes the name of the one he came in by in his notes. Today he will use the sales area on 1F, to choose a fish, and a restaurant upstairs on 2F, to eat. After the meal he plans to find the door he noted and go back through the underpass.

Open in Kakao Map — Noryangjin Fish Market

02Read the table at home first

Before setting off, Ethan opens “오늘의 경락시세” (today’s auction prices) on the market’s website on his phone. Species, origin, size, pack, quantity, highest auction price, lowest auction price, average price. Like the engineer he is, he reads the column names before the numbers.

Ethan reads the “규격” (size specification) and “포장” (packaging/unit) columns separately. 미 (mi) is the word for counting whole fish, but he doesn’t take the fish count in the size column as the basis of the price. Some sizes in the size column are given as a fish count, such as “4/5미”, and the packaging/unit column shows marks such as “kg” or “S/P”. Before looking at a price, he checks the size and the unit on that row together. In his notes he writes, “Don’t mix up the fish count in the size column with the unit of the price.”

The table shows the prices agreed at auction. It is not a quote for what Ethan will pay on the sales floor. He doesn’t copy the average price over as the money he will hand a seller. At the market he will ask afresh about the fish he chooses today: the unit it is sold by, the unit price and the total for the whole fish. At home, the table helps him understand how auction prices are listed. Today’s purchase is decided on the terms he confirms on the sales floor.

Before closing the table, Ethan writes three questions on their own in his notes. “How many kg is one fish?” “How many people is that weight for?” “How much will I eat today?” The questions look similar, but the answers come from different sources. The scales answer the first, a seller who has prepared the fish answers the second, and Ethan himself answers the third. The auction price table answers none of them directly. What it tells you is which species traded at auction, in what size and by what unit.

So Ethan keeps reading the table at home and asking prices at the market apart. At home he learns the column names and how the units are written. He looks at which columns 미 and kg sit in, and whether the same species is split into several sizes. At the market he uses those words again, in front of real fish. If a seller gives a price per kg, he notes it down as a fish priced by weight. If the price is for the fish, he asks for the total for that fish. The table gives him the vocabulary for his questions, not the price of his purchase.

03Find the live-fish section on the ground floor

The ground floor is split between the auction hall on the west side and the sales floor on the east. Within the sales floor there are sections for shellfish (패류), live fish (활어), frozen seafood (냉동) and fresh fish (선어). Today Ethan wants a fish to eat raw, so he looks for the live-fish section.

Rather than walking a full loop of the whole market, Ethan looks at candidates within the live-fish section. He looks at the species and the size, and asks what unit the price of the fish he wants is given in. When he finds a candidate he likes, he notes where the stall is, so he can come back and compare amounts and totals.

04Look at the origin sign first

Seafood on sale must carry an origin label. Live seafood is kept in separate sections so that domestic and imported fish of the same kind don’t mix, and a sign or board shows the origin. Seafood of Korean origin is labelled “국산”, “국내산” or “연근해산”. Distant-water catches are labelled “원양산”, either on its own or with the name of the fishing area. Imported seafood is labelled with its country of origin.

Ethan looks at the fish he might choose and the origin label that goes with it together. If your Korean is shaky, you can read the sign with a translation app to get the meaning. If it is hard to tell which label belongs to which fish, point at the fish and ask: “Is this fish from the place written here?”

05Ask about weight and the number of fish together

On the way back, Ethan stops in front of a live-fish tank. He looks at what is written next to the number on the price tag. kg, or one fish? He asks the seller two things at once: “Do you sell this by the kg or by the fish?” and “What size would be right for one person?”

If the fish is to be priced by weight, Ethan asks the seller today’s selling price per kg and checks the weight used to calculate the price. Multiply that unit price by the weight and you have the price of the fish itself. If he is quoted a price for the whole fish, he checks the total for the one fish he has chosen. Either way, the last question is the same: “If I buy this fish, how much do I pay for the fish?”

Ethan is on his own today. Buying one fish doesn’t mean buying one person’s portion, so he first asks whether, once prepared for the meal, it is the right amount for one. After narrowing down the candidates, he plans to find out where it will be prepared and what that costs, whether a restaurant will seat him on his own and what he will pay there. He decides to pay only after he has checked the fish and the restaurant costs together.

Ethan doesn’t start with whichever fish is cheapest per kg. When a fish is sold by the kg, even if you choose just one, the total is its weight times the unit price. If another candidate costs a little more per kg but is the right size for one, its total is worth comparing. What Ethan wants to cut is not just the unit price but anything he can’t finish today and anything that goes over budget.

The seller shows him two candidates. The first is cheaper per kg but large. The second costs a little more per kg and is smaller. Ethan checks each fish’s weight on the scales and writes the two totals, unit price times weight, side by side in his notes. Looking only at the unit-price column, the first wins. Looking at the total column, the heavier first fish costs more. When he asks how much each would make as raw fish, the answer is that the first is too much for one person.

Ethan compares the two fish under three headings in his notes: “Price per kg / Total price / Right amount for one?” He chooses only once all three columns are filled. He narrows it down to the second fish. The unit price is a little higher, but the total is smaller, and it is a size he can finish on his own. With the first fish, both the cost and the leftover raw fish would go beyond today’s plan.

Before paying, Ethan tells the seller he will be back shortly and goes up to 2F. If he looked for a restaurant after buying the fish, the fish would already be in his hands even if the restaurant bill went over budget. So he switches the order.

At the restaurant entrance, Ethan asks: “Can I eat here on my own?” “Can you prepare a fish bought downstairs and serve it here as sliced raw fish?” “What comes on the table with it, and what is ordered separately? If I eat alone, how much do I pay here altogether?” He also asks how he should bring the fish up. With the answers in hand, he adds a line for the restaurant under the line for the fish in his notes.

If the fish and the restaurant together go over budget, he changes the order before paying. He looks at a different fish that suits one person, or drops a dish he meant to order separately at the restaurant. If he changes the order, he adds up the new fish price and restaurant cost again. If a restaurant says it can’t seat one person, he asks another about its terms and costs from scratch.

Today the second fish he kept as a candidate plus this restaurant’s cost still fits the budget. Ethan goes back to the ground floor and checks again the species, the origin, the weight used to calculate the price and the total for the fish he has chosen. He pays, and writes in his notes the species, the weight, one fish, and the price of the fish.

06Finish with a meal upstairs on 2F

The north side of 2F is lined with raw-fish restaurants. The one Ethan goes to is the restaurant where, before buying his fish, he checked that he could eat on his own and what it would cost. Having settled how the fish reaches the restaurant, he asks them to prepare it as raw fish. He pays the seller downstairs for the fish and the restaurant for its food and service.

Ethan checks which side dishes, vegetables and sauces are included, and which dishes must be ordered separately. “Eating alone, how much do I pay the restaurant altogether?” He doesn’t stop at asking whether a price is per person, but checks today’s full amount. After the meal he adds the fish price and the restaurant bill together to finish his note. He has two receipts today.

07Read test results with their dates

The market website posts the results of radioactivity tests on seafood. Ethan checks the date in each post’s title and the posting date, and opens the latest results. Rather than just noting the date, he reads what the results say.

08The way back

Before buying the fish, Ethan checks the latest train he can take from Noryangjin and still reach his destination. He notes separately when he needs to leave the restaurant. It is a time that leaves room to get out of the market, through the underpass and down to the station platform. After eating, he settles the bill in time, leaves by the door he noted and heads back towards Exit 7.

To count backwards, he started from the departure time of the train he will catch at Noryangjin Station. He first checked that the train and any onward connections would get him all the way to his destination. Then he subtracted, leg by leg, the time from the restaurant to the market door, from the door through the underpass to the station entrance, and from the station entrance to the platform. Leaving a margin for boarding, he set the time to leave the restaurant, and decided to have paid before then.

When he checked the 2F restaurant before buying the fish, he also asked how long the wait might be and how long preparing the raw fish takes. He looks at whether there is time to pay on the ground floor, come back, wait, eat and settle up. If the timing is too tight, he asks another restaurant about its terms and its wait before paying for the fish.

If you need help

Common Mistakes — where a fish market visit usually stalls

• Treating the average price on the auction price table as what you will pay on the sales floor.
• Seeing a fish count such as “4/5미” in the size column and reading the price on that line as the price of one fish.
• Comparing only the price per kg, without checking the total for the fish you chose at its actual weight.
• Planning to eat your fish at a market restaurant, but paying for it after budgeting the meal on the fish alone, without finding out whether you can eat at the restaurant and what it costs.
• Not matching each origin label to the fish it belongs to.
• Keeping no purchase record, or assuming seafood damaged through use or partial consumption still qualifies for the market’s returns scheme.
• Looking only at the time of the last train, without leaving time to get from the restaurant to the platform.

FAQ

Recap — 30 seconds before you leave

Reality Check

Transport, sales and auction closing days, conditions of the market’s returns scheme and the market layout checked: 13 October 2026. Selling hours for each type of seafood are on the opening-hours page of the market website. Check the retail price of the fish you are buying, and how the restaurant works and what it costs, with that stall and that restaurant before you pay for the fish. For radioactivity test results, look at the date in the post title and the posting date, and read the latest result.

After the Cut

On the subway, Ethan opens today’s purchase note again. The species and weight, one fish, the price of the fish and what he paid at the restaurant are all there. Next time he will ask the prices afresh, but he can use the same order again. Check the unit, choose a suitable portion and add up the full cost of the meal.

(※ This article includes staged images created with AI.)