How to Address an Envelope or Parcel to South Korea

Updated 22 September 2026

Write the address from the smallest unit to the largest: unit, building number and road, district, city, then the 5-digit postal code, and put the country on the last line in capitals (REPUBLIC OF KOREA; Korea Post writes Rep. of KOREA). Add the recipient's Korean mobile number for customs.

You have a Korean address on your screen and a blank envelope or customs label in front of you. Two sets of rules apply: your own post office's rules for international mail, and what Korea Post asks for at the other end. They agree on almost everything.

What goes on each line?

Write the address in capital letters, in this order, with no more than five lines. This follows the Universal Postal Union's address sheet for Korea and USPS rules for international mail.

Outside the big cities, the town and county go on the street line and the province goes next to the postal code. The UPU's rural example reads 6, JONG-RO, CHANGNYEONG-EUP, CHANGNYEONG-GUN, then GYEONGSANGNAM-DO 50329. Official examples differ on the comma after the building number: the UPU sheet uses it, juso.go.kr's current rule page leaves it out.

Where does the postal code go?

Put the 5-digit code to the right of the city or province, on the line above the country. USPS tells senders not to put postal codes on the last line. Korean postal codes have been 5 digits since 1 August 2015, so a 6-digit code is out of date.

There are plenty of codes to mix up: the ministry's August 2026 data has 34,400 postal codes for 6,424,089 addresses. Look up the full address, including the building number. For example, 33 Beobwonbuk-ro, Yeonje-gu, Busan, the address Korea Post uses in its own English example, is 47502.

How should I write the country?

Korea Post asks for "Rep. of Korea" at the bottom of the address. USPS says the last line must be the country name alone, in full, with no abbreviations, and in capitals. REPUBLIC OF KOREA meets both. Do not add anything else on that line.

Should I add the address in Korean?

If you have it, yes, as well as the English. USPS, for one, requires roman letters and arabic numerals, so the English version stays. But the UPU sheet says Korea Post prefers inbound mail addressed in Korean, the USPS page for Korea asks for Korean characters "if known", and Korea Post's own English page says the address may also be written in the local language. The Korean address runs from large to small, for example 서울특별시 강남구 테헤란로 152 for 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Address pages on this site show both versions with copy buttons, so you can print or paste the Korean line exactly.

What else does a parcel need?

• A phone number on the customs form. The USPS page for Korea says Korea Post wants the recipient's phone number, preferably a mobile, and email address on the customs declaration, and items without a mobile number may be delayed. Korean mobiles look like +82 10-XXXX-XXXX.
• Ink, not pencil. USPS does not accept pencil addresses.
• The unit number. Many Koreans live in large complexes where one road address can cover dozens of buildings. See Korean apartment addresses in English for dong and ho.

Shipping through an online checkout instead? The field-by-field version is in how to write a Korean address on shipping forms.