Follow the posted speed limits
Since 17 April 2021 a national policy called Safe Speed 5030 (안전속도 5030) has applied across every Korean city, and it is now in the rulebook rather than in a campaign. The Road Traffic Act's enforcement rule (도로교통법 시행규칙 제19조제1항) — readable in the consolidated rule — sets the general urban limit at 50 km/h on ordinary roads in residential, commercial and industrial zones, with a discretionary 60 km/h on routes the provincial police commissioner has specifically designated for traffic flow. Residential back streets are dropped to 30 km/h by designation under The Road Traffic Act (도로교통법 제17조제2항), one article of a statute whose full text is public. The rollout was announced by 국토교통부 (the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), which reported a 33.8% drop in pedestrian road deaths in Busan in the first full year of its own trial.
Outside these urban zones, the general limit on ordinary roads is 60 km/h, or 80 km/h where there are two or more lanes in each direction. Motor-vehicle-only roads have a general limit of 90 km/h. Expressway limits depend on the road design and designation, so read the posted signs rather than assuming that every expressway has the same limit. In rain or under 20 mm of snow you must cut 20% off the limit; in fog with visibility under 100 m, on ice, or over 20 mm of snow, 50%.
School zones (어린이보호구역) are the ones to watch. 도로교통법 제12조 lets a mayor cap speed at 30 km/h around any kindergarten, primary school, special school, day-care centre or after-school academy, and the signs are everywhere. Penalties inside them run at roughly double: a red light costs a car driver ₩120,000 rather than ₩60,000, and even a sub-20 km/h overspeed is ₩60,000. Beyond the fines, the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (특정범죄 가중처벌 등에 관한 법률 제5조의13) — the law usually called Min-sik's Law (민식이법) — punishes a driver who injures a child in one of these zones with one to fifteen years' imprisonment or a fine of ₩5m–₩30m, and one who kills a child with life or not less than three years. Stay within the posted limit and be ready to stop for children near the road.
The cameras, and why the bill arrives after you have gone home
Korea uses fixed and mobile cameras to enforce speed limits and traffic signals. Fixed cameras sit above the lane; section enforcement (구간단속) measures your average between two gantries, so slowing only at the cameras does not bring an excessive average speed within the limit; and there are mobile units besides.
A camera case is handled as an 과태료 — an administrative penalty — rather than a driver's fine, and The Road Traffic Act (도로교통법 제160조제3항) is the reason that matters to you: where the offence is proved by photographic evidence, the penalty is imposed on the 고용주등, the person the vehicle is registered to. In a hire car that is the rental company. It pays, then recovers from you against whatever card you left on file — usually weeks later, often after you have flown home, and typically with an administrative fee of its own on top.
The amounts, for an ordinary car, come from The Road Traffic Act's enforcement decree, Appendix Table 6 (도로교통법 시행령 별표 6):
| Camera offence (passenger car, 승용자동차) | Penalty (과태료) |
|---|---|
| Ignoring a signal or instruction (red light) | ₩70,000 |
| Speeding, 20 km/h or under | ₩40,000 |
| Speeding, 20–40 km/h over | ₩70,000 |
| Speeding, 40–60 km/h over | ₩100,000 |
| Speeding, more than 60 km/h over | ₩130,000 |
| Crossing the centre line | ₩90,000 |
| Driving on the footpath | ₩70,000 |
| Illegal stopping or parking | ₩40,000, or ₩80,000 in a signed no-stopping zone |
When an officer identifies the driver, a driver’s fine (범칙금) and penalty points may apply instead of a penalty addressed to the vehicle’s registered keeper.
Drink-driving: the number is 0.03%
This is the rule most visitors get wrong, because in most countries the threshold is 0.05% or 0.08%. The Road Traffic Act (도로교통법 제44조제4항) defines the offence as a blood alcohol concentration of 0.03% or more. The effect of a drink varies by person and circumstance. Do not use a drink count to decide whether you are below the limit.
Drink-driving is a criminal offence and can result in a fine or imprisonment. 도로교통법 제148조의2제3항 makes it a criminal offence at every level:
| Blood alcohol | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 0.03% – 0.08% | up to 1 year, or a fine up to ₩5m |
| 0.08% – 0.2% | 1–2 years, or ₩5m–₩10m |
| 0.2% or more | 2–5 years, or ₩10m–₩20m |
| Refusing a breath test | 1–5 years, or ₩5m–₩20m |
A second offence within ten years is punished far more harshly again. Note two things a visitor would not guess: Article 44(1) (제44조제1항) also prohibits cycling after drinking, but bicycle penalties differ from the motor-vehicle penalties in this table. Refusing a required breath test is a separate offence. Roadside checkpoints — cars funnelled through a line of officers with breathalysers — are used at night.
Practical version: if you have had anything at dinner, leave the car. That is also why the 대리운전 trade — a substitute driver who comes and drives your own car home — is a large industry here.
Set up your navigation before driving
Navigation features in Korea differ between apps. Korea restricts the export of high-precision survey data. On 27 February 2026 the inter-ministerial panel constituted under the Spatial Data Act (공간정보의 구축 및 관리 등에 관한 법률 제16조) conditionally approved the export of Google's 1:5,000 map data, after refusals in 2007 and 2016. That decision did not by itself establish when each navigation feature would become available. Test the route you need before setting off and keep a working local navigation app available.
What works:
- Naver Map (네이버 지도) — the largest, and the one with the best foreign-language coverage: its store listing declares English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
- KakaoMap (카카오맵) is a Korean map app with English and Korean interfaces.
- TMAP (티맵) — the dominant dedicated in-car navigation app, and the one Korean drivers actually use. Its store record declares English alongside Korean, but the app is built Korean-first and its live traffic, camera warnings and voice guidance are the reason to use it rather than its interface language.
A rental car’s navigation unit may have a Korean interface. Ask the rental desk to show you how it works. If it supports telephone-number searches, try the number published by your destination and check the resulting address. Saving the Korean name and address on your phone before departure also avoids typing while you are on the road.
Tolls, and the Hi-Pass (하이패스) box on the windscreen
Korean expressways, run by the Korea Expressway Corporation (한국도로공사), are tolled, and Hi-Pass (하이패스) is the electronic system used to pay in dedicated toll lanes. Ask whether your rental car has an active Hi-Pass unit, which lanes to use and how the company bills the tolls.
If a toll is missed — a flat battery in the unit, or the wrong lane — it becomes an unpaid toll owed by the registered keeper again. 한국도로공사 (the Korea Expressway Corporation) runs a settlement portal for these, but a missed toll may not appear immediately, and online payment can require 본인인증, a Korean identity-verification process that visitors may be unable to complete. Tell the rental company if you think you missed a toll and ask how to settle it.
Parking is the daily problem
City parking is scarce and paid, and the two things that catch foreign drivers are mechanical and financial.
Mechanical parking (기계식 주차장) is common in older buildings: you drive onto a turntable, get out, and a machine stacks the car in a tower. It is unnerving the first time, the bays are narrow, and low or long vehicles are refused.
Enforcement is aggressive, and towing is priced. Under Seoul's ordinance on towing illegally stopped and parked vehicles (서울특별시 정차·주차위반차량 견인 등에 관한 조례), a towed passenger car costs ₩40,000 to ₩60,000 by size in its own schedule of costs, plus ₩700 for every 30 minutes in the pound, capped at ₩500,000. That sits on top of the parking penalty itself. Illegal parking in front of a fire hydrant, a bus stop, a crossing or a signed no-stopping zone is caught by camera as well as by patrol.
Six other things that surprise people
- 비보호 좌회전. A blue "unprotected left turn" sign means you may turn left on a green light, yielding to oncoming traffic — but only where that sign exists. At other junctions, follow the applicable signals and signs.
- Obey any dedicated right-turn signal. Where turning on red is permitted, first come to a complete stop, then yield to pedestrians and conflicting traffic before proceeding.
- Bus lanes are real. The blue-marked central lanes in Seoul and the expressway bus lane to the coast are camera-enforced.
- Motorcycles are banned from expressways entirely.
- Many cars have dashcams. After a collision, ask the rental company how to preserve any footage from your car.
- Check whether the petrol station is self-service or attended. Confirm the correct fuel for your rental car before filling it.
