You may not need a form at all
Korea no longer asks every arriving passenger to fill in a paper declaration. 여행자 및 승무원 휴대품 통관에 관한 고시 (the Customs Service's own notice on traveller baggage clearance) puts it plainly at Article 5(2)(2): a traveller carrying nothing on the must-declare list may skip writing and submitting the form altogether and use the nothing-to-declare channel. A customs officer can still ask you for one.
So the first question to check is whether you are carrying something on the list. Article 6(1) sets it out in fourteen items, and these are the ones a visitor is likely to meet:
- Goods acquired abroad worth more than US$800 in total.
- Alcohol, tobacco or perfume over the per-person allowance — and if you are under 19, all alcohol and tobacco must be declared regardless of quantity.
- Anything for sale or business use, samples, or repair parts.
- Firearms, blades, explosives, sprays, stun guns and crossbows — including parts, replicas and decorative pieces — plus toxic and radioactive material and interception equipment.
- Narcotics, psychotropic substances, cannabis and their products, and medicines with a risk of misuse.
- Publications, films, recordings, video and sculpture that disturb constitutional order, public order or public morals.
- Material that leaks state secrets or is used for espionage.
- Counterfeit, altered or imitation currency, bonds and securities.
- Animals (including meat, hides and fur), plants, fruit, vegetables, live aquatic organisms, agricultural, forestry, livestock and fishery products including processed goods, and other foodstuffs.
- CITES-listed species and anything made from them — tiger, leopard, elephant, ostrich, falcon, owl, cobra, turtle, crocodile, sturgeon, coral, orchid, cactus, aloe, and their taxidermy, fur, ivory, handbags, wallets and accessories, plus bear bile, musk and several herbal medicines.
- Goods infringing intellectual property, including counterfeit-branded items.
Not declaring costs money even when the goods are perfectly legal. Article 6(2) adds a penalty surcharge of 40% of the tax due — 60% for a repeat within two years — on top of the duty itself. 관세청 (the Korea Customs Service) also gives a 30% reduction in duty for declaring voluntarily. The reduction and penalty apply under their respective conditions; they are not a general exemption from duties or import restrictions.
Some goods are prohibited, while others require permission
Korea distinguishes two things. Prohibited goods cannot come in at all: obscene material, and counterfeit or forged currency, bonds and securities. Restricted goods can come in but only with every clearance requirement met, regardless of the duty-free allowance — firearms, narcotics, and CITES species and products. Neither category has anything to do with value.
Food, meat and plants — the rules that actually catch visitors
These rules are enforced by 농림축산검역본부 (the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency), whose officers sit at desks next to the customs benches by the baggage carousels — at Incheon, numbered 11 and 12 at belt A, 13 and 14 at B, 25 and 26 at C, 76 and 75 at D, 62 and 61 at E, 64 and 63 at F, animal desk first, plant desk second.
These categories face significant quarantine restrictions in both cabin and checked baggage:
| Meat | Most beef, pork, lamb and chicken, and processed meat: ham, sausage, jerky (육포), braised beef (장조림) |
|---|---|
| Fruit and vegetables | Most fresh fruit and most fruiting vegetables |
| Plants and soil | Soil, any plant with soil attached, walnuts still in the shell, live insects kept as pets |
| Processed straw | Anything made from rice straw or rice husks |
Must be declared even when allowed: every kind of plant material — fruit, vegetables, seeds, seedlings, flowers, walnuts, herbal medicine ingredients — plus pathogens, insects and soil. Seeds and seedlings additionally need a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country's quarantine authority, and animals or animal products need an equivalent veterinary certificate.
The fines
The schedule is in 가축전염병 예방법 시행령 별표 3, the enforcement decree's penalty table, at item 무 — failing to declare a designated quarantine item carried by a traveller. First, second and third offence:
| What you were carrying | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork or a pork-containing product from a country designated as having African swine fever, without a quarantine certificate | ₩5,000,000 | ₩7,500,000 | ₩10,000,000 |
| Any other animal product without a certificate | ₩1,000,000 | ₩3,000,000 | ₩5,000,000 |
| An animal product with a certificate, but undeclared | ₩50,000 | ₩100,000 | ₩500,000 |
| A live animal whose international trade is banned under CITES | ₩3,000,000 | ₩4,000,000 | ₩5,000,000 |
| Any other live animal | ₩700,000 | ₩1,000,000 | ₩2,000,000 |
Note the third row. Carrying a permitted animal product with its certificate and simply not declaring it costs ₩50,000. Carrying the same thing without a certificate costs ₩1,000,000. A certificate and a declaration serve different purposes; having one does not remove the need for the other.
Undeclared plants attract their own penalty under the Plant Protection Act (식물방역법) and are destroyed on the spot; the agency also pays rewards to people who report smuggling, on 031-467-1700 for plants and 1588-9060 for animals and livestock products.
One more duty that surprises people. If you have been in a country with foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza or African swine fever, and you visited a livestock farm or a livestock market there, you must tell the quarantine officers on arrival, complete an entry animal-quarantine declaration and accept disinfection. Refusing or evading that is itself punishable. Farm-stay holidays and agritourism count.
Check restrictions on cannabis and other controlled substances
Cannabis is not decriminalised in Korea in any form. It is a controlled substance under 마약류 관리에 관한 법률 (the Narcotics Control Act), and Article 58(1)(5) makes importing or exporting cannabis, or possessing it with that intention, punishable by life imprisonment or a minimum of five years. Commercial or habitual offending raises the floor to ten years and puts the death penalty and life imprisonment on the table. Attempts are punished, and so is preparation or conspiracy, at up to ten years. CBD oil, gummies and hemp-derived products fall inside the same definition, which is why a legally purchased wellness product at home becomes a narcotics importation here.
And it does not stop at the border for Korean nationals. 형법 제3조 (Criminal Act, Article 3) applies Korean criminal law to Korean nationals for offences committed outside Korea. A Korean citizen who used cannabis in a country where it is legal can be prosecuted on returning home. Foreign visitors are covered by Article 2 for anything done inside Korea.
Medication — the approval that has to start before you fly
Check the requirements for the medicine’s active ingredient and quantity, even when it is prescribed at home. Keep it in its original packaging with the prescription and any required medical documents.
Controlled medicines are a different process and it has to start before you fly. If your medication contains a narcotic or psychotropic substance — ADHD stimulants such as amphetamine, dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate; opioids; codeine-containing preparations; some benzodiazepines; anything with THC or CBD — you need advance approval from 식품의약품안전처 (the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) to carry it in. Without it, arriving with the medicine is legally an importation of narcotics.
The application is called 자가치료용 마약류 휴대반입 (bringing in narcotics for self-treatment), and it has been available online since 27 December 2024 at the ministry's drug safety portal (의약품안전나라). Follow the permit instructions for the application and medical documents. Official guidance says to submit a complete application at least ten business days before entry. Allow for weekends, public holidays and requests for further information. The ministry publishes bilingual Korean and English user manuals with the notice.
The allowances that decide whether you need a form
The Korea Customs Service (관세청) sets the basic allowance at US$800 of goods acquired abroad, with alcohol, tobacco and perfume counted separately on top. Agricultural, forestry, livestock and fishery products are capped at 40 kg in total and ₩100,000 in value, and even inside that allowance they are only duty-free if they pass quarantine.
On perfume specifically: the figure is 100 mL. The notice in force states it in terms, "향수: 100밀리리터(㎖) 또는 이에 준하는 부피 또는 중량 이내의 것 (예: 100g, 3.4oz 등)" — perfume (향수): within 100 millilitres (밀리리터, ㎖), or the equivalent volume or weight, for example 100 g or 3.4 oz. Older printed declaration forms still say 60 mL; 100 mL is the rule.
What to actually do
- Eat or leave behind any meat, jerky, ham, sausage, fresh fruit or fruiting vegetable before you pack. Sealed and shop-bought makes no difference.
- Declare anything you are unsure about. Ask the officer whether admission, duty or other conditions apply. Do not assume that declaring an item makes every charge disappear.
- Apply well before travel if your medicine requires approval. Follow the permit’s deadline and allow extra time for missing documents or further questions.
- Leave CBD at home, in every form, however it is sold where you bought it.
- Walk the nothing-to-declare channel only if that is true. Ask a customs officer if you are unsure which channel to use.
