Saturday, September 18, 2010

Korean Driver's Licenses

What must a foreigner do to obtain a Korean driver's license? If you are licensed to drive from other countries, you may "exchange" it for a Korean. The process is different depending on the country in which the foreign license was issued, but generally you will need to have the foreign driver's license, your passport, ID pictures and written confirmation of driver's license from your embassy. Korean driver's licenses issued based on foreign licenses are the "Class 2" category, allowing you to drive vehicles under 9 passengers and trucks less than 4 tons.

Licenses from countries that Korea does not have an exchange agreement with require separate process for being recognized for a Korean one. Citizens of Australia, China, Laos, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States are required to take a simple test. The test is composed of 20 questions and can be taken in English, Chinese, Japanese, German and French.

What do you have to do to get a new license issued to you on Korea? First you have to take a test of 50 multiple choice questions with four possible answers each. This test can be taken in Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German and Vietnamese. Thai and Indonesian are also being considered. If you pass the test, you're then allowed to proceed to an "ability test" that is simple test of your driving ability and is taken at the test site. If you past this ability test you then take ten hours or more of actual driving training, after which you must past a test of actual driving. Korea has driving schools all over the country, so you can easily obtain a Korean driver's license from one of these schools.

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