🧭 Korea Customs Guide: Allowances, Declaring and Penalties

Duty-free allowances per person

Goods: up to US$800 in total value. Alcohol: up to 2 liters in total (two bottles) with a combined value of US$400 or less. Cigarettes: 200 (one carton). Perfume: 100 ml.

Travelers under 19 have no duty-free allowance for alcohol or cigarettes.

Official pages differ

The English Korea Customs page still shows older figures (US$600, 1 liter, 60 ml). The Korean Korea Customs page, Incheon Airport and VisitKorea give the current figures above, so use those and confirm in the declaration service.

What you must declare

Declare goods above your allowance, and cash, checks or securities worth more than US$10,000 in total. Plants, fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products also need declaring or are prohibited.

Agricultural, forest, fishery and livestock products have a personal limit of 40 kg combined and about ₩100,000 in overseas value.

How to declare

Each traveler with items to declare fills in a customs declaration, with one form per family. You can do it with the Traveler Customs Declaration app or website while you enter Korea, which speeds up processing.

Penalties

Declaring goods above the allowance voluntarily reduces the duty, while goods you fail to declare can attract a penalty on top of the duty.

Prices, schedules and entry rules change. The figures below are approximate and reflect information available when this guide was last reviewed; always confirm with the official source before you travel.