Exchanging a foreign driving licence in Korea

The one-year IDP window

An International Driving Permit lets you drive in Korea for one year from your date of entry. After that it is not valid, and — this is the part people miss — it cannot be renewed from inside Korea. Renewing means leaving the country and obtaining a new one abroad.

So if you are staying longer than a year and intend to drive, the exchange is not optional. Start it in month six, not month eleven.

Three possible situations

Korea has exchange arrangements with well over a hundred countries and jurisdictions. The list is maintained by the Korea Road Traffic Authority and does change.

Step 1: embassy verification — start here

Korea requires independent confirmation that your licence is genuine and currently valid. Depending on your country this means either:

• A certificate of authenticity issued by your embassy or consulate in Korea; or
• An apostilled driving record obtained from your home licensing authority.

This is almost always the slowest step. Some embassies issue same-day over the counter; others require an appointment weeks out, and some require you to first obtain a record from home, which adds its own weeks.

Call your embassy's consular section and ask specifically: "Do you issue a certificate of authenticity for a driving licence for the Korean exchange process, and what do I need to bring?" Then work backwards from their answer.

Step 2: go to a driver's licence examination office

Exchanges are handled at driver's licence examination offices (운전면허시험장) — not police stations, not district offices. The larger offices handle foreign exchanges routinely and have staff used to the process.

In Seoul, the Gangnam, Seobu and Dobong offices are the usual choices. Every metropolitan city has at least one main office. Go early in the morning — most process exchanges in the morning only, and the whole thing is same-day if you arrive complete.

Step 3: documents

• Your foreign driving licence — the original, which will be retained.
• Embassy certificate of authenticity, or apostilled driving record.
• Passport.
• Alien registration card.
• Certificate of alien registration facts (외국인등록사실증명) — free from a district office or a Government24 kiosk.
• Three passport photos, 3.5 × 4.5 cm.
• Fee — modest, a few tens of thousands of won including the medical.

Step 4: medical check

Done on site in a few minutes: vision, hearing and basic mobility. Bring your glasses or contact lenses if you need them to drive — the licence is endorsed accordingly and driving without the endorsed correction is an offence.

Step 5: the written test

A short multiple-choice test on Korean road rules, available in English and several other languages at the major offices. It is not difficult, but it is not free marks either — Korean-specific rules are heavily tested and several have no equivalent elsewhere.

What to study specifically:

• School zones (어린이보호구역). Speed limits are 30 km/h and penalties for violations causing injury are severe under the so-called Minsik law. Heavily examined.
• Bus-only lanes and when they operate — including the central bus lanes in Seoul.
• Drink-driving thresholds and penalties. Korea's limits are low and enforcement is intensive.
• Penalty point structure and licence suspension thresholds.
• Right turns on red and the rules around pedestrian crossings, which have tightened.

The official English question bank is published free on the Road Traffic Authority site. An hour or two with it is enough for most people, and you can retake the same day if you fail.

Step 6: collect the licence

Usually issued the same day. Your foreign licence is retained and stored — you get it back when you surrender the Korean licence on leaving the country.

Keep the receipt. Retrieving your original licence without it is troublesome, and this is a document you will need years later at a moment when you are busy leaving the country.

If your country has no arrangement

You take the standard Korean process, which is well organised and considerably cheaper than in most countries:

1. Traffic safety education — a short mandatory session.
2. Written test.
3. Skills test (기능시험) — a closed-course manoeuvre test.
4. Road test (도로주행) — on public roads.

Driving schools (운전학원) bundle lessons and tests. Some in Seoul and the larger cities run English-language courses — ask before enrolling, because most do not. Expect a few weeks and a cost in the high hundreds of thousands of won.

Why you might want a Korean licence even if you do not drive much

• Car sharing. Socar and Greencar — the dominant services, and the practical way to have occasional access to a car in Korea — generally require a Korean licence.
• Rental cars. Major firms accept an IDP plus your home licence, but not all do, and the IDP expires.
• Identification. A Korean driving licence is accepted as ID in many situations where you would otherwise carry your registration card.

Going home

Surrender the Korean licence at an examination office with your receipt and your original foreign licence is returned. Some countries will then exchange the Korean licence back — ask your home licensing authority before surrendering anything, because the order matters.