ENGLISH

- Persons who hold a foreign drivers' license (referring to a drivers' license obtained while the driver was residing in a foreign country for at least 90 days, wherein such driver's license is neither temporary nor for driving practice) shall be exempt from a driver's license test. However, these persons may still be required to take a driver’s license test depending on whether the relevant foreign country reciprocally exempts holders of driver's licenses of Republic of Korea from a driver's license test, with the exception of the aptitude test (hereafter referred to as "countries that recognize Korean driver's licenses"), as prescribed in Attached Table 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act (Main section of Article 84(2) of the Road Traffic Act).

- Visit the Road Traffic Authority website: Driver'sLicenseInformation-ForeignDriver'sLicense&InternationalDrivingPermit to see a list of countries that recognize Korean driver's licenses, which is published by Korean National Police Agency.

- A foreign driver’s license held by an individual whose immigration status in Korea is one of those listed in the attached Table 1-2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Control Act (i.e., diplomat, public worker, emissary, resident official, corporate investment specialist, trader, professor, researcher, technical trainer, worker engaged in special activities, a Korean living abroad, or the spouse or an unmarried child under the age of nineteen, shall be valid. For foreign issuing authorities in countries that recognize Korean drivers’ licenses and have signed an agreement of mutual recognition with the Republic of Korea, the driver may be partially exempt from licensing tests (proviso to Article 84(2) of the Road Traffic Act and Article 52(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act).

- When issuing a Koreandriver's license to any foreigner who holds a foreign driver's license afterexempting the foreigner from part of the driver's license test, the RoadTraffic Authority shall retrieve the foreign driver's license only for reasons prescribed under the PresidentialDecree, such as the request made by the country where the relevant driver’slicense is issued (Article 84(3) of the Road Traffic Act).