Korean addresses are normally written from the largest area to the smallest: city or province, district, road, building number, and then floor or unit details. In English, the practical order runs the other way: detailed destination first, followed by the road, district, city or province, postal code, and country.
If you need to know how to write a Korean address in English, the safest method is to search the Korean address in the government’s Address Information website and copy its official English result. Romanize the address rather than translating every element, and add the recipient’s apartment, floor, or suite information separately.
Road-name addresses are the current standard
The standard Korean address is the road-name address, 도로명주소 (doromyeong juso). It identifies a building through its road name and building number. Road-name addresses have been used as the standard for postal and parcel delivery since the system’s nationwide implementation in 2014. source
Korea Post gives this official example:
47502 부산광역시 연제구 법원북로 33
Read it from left to right as follows:
- 47502: five-digit postal code
- 부산광역시: Busan
- 연제구: Yeonje-gu, a district of Busan
- 법원북로: Beobwonbuk-ro, the road name
- 33: the building number
Korea Post renders the address in English as 33, Beobwonbuk-ro, Yeonje-gu, Busan, 47502 Rep. of KOREA. Notice that the building number comes before the road name and that -ro remains attached to the romanized road name. source
Why you may also see a lot-number address
The older lot-number address, 지번주소 (jibeon juso), identifies a parcel of land within a legal neighborhood. It typically looks like this:
서울특별시 강남구 역삼동 123-45
- 서울특별시: Seoul
- 강남구: Gangnam-gu
- 역삼동: Yeoksam-dong
- 123-45: main and secondary lot numbers
The final number is a land-parcel number, not a building number on a road. Although the road-name address is the one normally requested for mail and modern administrative use, lot numbers still appear in land records, older documents, directions, and official address-search results. Government address data commonly provides both the road-name and corresponding lot-number forms. source
Use the road-name address unless a form specifically requests 지번, a property document uses the lot number, or the place does not yet have a building-based road address.
Recognizing the parts of a Korean address
Administrative and road endings make an address easier to decode. In an English address, these endings are usually romanized rather than replaced with literal English words.
- -도 (do): province, as in Gyeonggi-do
- -시 (si): city within a province, as in Suwon-si
- -군 (gun): county
- -구 (gu): district, as in Gangnam-gu
- -읍 (eup): town
- -면 (myeon): township
- -리 (ri): village or legal administrative division
- -동 (dong): neighborhood—or a building designation in a complex
- -대로 (daero): major road or avenue
- -로 (ro): road
- -길 (gil): smaller road or numbered branch road
- -층 (cheung): floor
- -호 (ho): unit, room, apartment, or suite number
Official romanization uses forms such as -daero, -ro, and -gil. The address service may permit English abbreviations in limited contexts, but copying the full official result is less likely to cause problems in searches or automated forms. source
In Korean, a complete road name is written without an internal space. For example, 국회대로62길 is one road name, followed by a space before its building number. It should not be entered as 국회대로 62길. source
How to format the English mailing address
For a parcel or letter entering Korea from abroad, use this general layout:
Recipient name
Building, floor, apartment, or suite
Building number and official road name
District, city or province, postal code
Rep. of KOREA
Using the Korea Post example, a label could read:
Minji Kim
33 Beobwonbuk-ro, Yeonje-gu
Busan 47502
Rep. of KOREA
Korea Post specifically asks senders to place Rep. of KOREA at the bottom of an English address for international mail destined for South Korea. If a website’s country menu instead lists “South Korea,” select that option; the crucial point is to distinguish the destination from North Korea. source
South Korea uses five-digit postal codes. The current five-digit system has been in use since August 2015, so a six-digit code found in an old contact page or document may be obsolete. source
Entering the address in separate online fields
International websites do not use one consistent definition of “City,” “State,” or “Province.” Preserve every part of the address rather than forcing Korean geography into a US-style structure.
For the Busan example, one possible arrangement is:
- Address line 1: 33 Beobwonbuk-ro
- Address line 2: floor, unit, or building name if applicable
- City: Yeonje-gu
- State/Province/Region: Busan
- ZIP/Postal code: 47502
- Country: South Korea or Republic of Korea
If the form accepts a city but has no region field, enter Busan as the city and add Yeonje-gu to the street-address line. For a Seoul address, the same form may accept the district under “City” and Seoul under “State/Province,” or it may expect Seoul as the city. The exact boxes matter less than retaining the official road, building number, district, major city or province, and postal code.
Apartment buildings, floors, and units
The information after the building number is called the detailed address, 상세주소 (sangse juso). Official guidance defines this as building-wing, floor, and unit information written after the road-name address’s building number. source
A Korean apartment detail such as 101동 1203호 means:
- 101동: Building or tower 101
- 1203호: Unit 1203
Clear English versions include:
- Bldg. 101, Unit 1203
- Building 101, Apt. 1203
- 101-dong, 1203-ho
The first two are easier for many overseas forms to interpret. The romanized version is also usable when it matches the format supplied by the resident. Avoid writing only 101-1203 unless the receiving service specifically requests that style, because it does not show which number is the building and which is the unit.
Do not confuse apartment 동 with neighborhood 동:
- 역삼동 means Yeoksam-dong, a neighborhood.
- 101동 means Building 101 within a complex.
Likewise, 3층 can be written as 3F or 3rd Floor, while 지하 1층 is commonly written as B1 or Basement 1.
What the parentheses mean
A road-name address may end with information in parentheses:
서울특별시 구로구 중앙로 5, 3층 (고척동)
Here, 고척동 is the legal neighborhood supplied as a reference. Apartment addresses may also include the neighborhood and complex name in parentheses. The official structure places these after the detailed address as reference items; the road name and building number remain the elements that locate the building. source
A complex or building name can still help a courier confirm the destination, but it should not replace the road name, building number, postal code, or unit. Government guidance notes that building names shown in search results are primarily provided for search convenience and do not themselves carry the same legal role as the address. source
Use the official spelling instead of improvising
Place names do not always match the spelling an English speaker would guess from pronunciation. Search the base address in the official address system and copy the returned English form, including its hyphens and number placement. The government database maintains a separate English road-name address dataset and bases romanization on the national Romanization of Korean rules. source
Do not literally translate a road name or apartment complex unless the organization already uses an established English name. A recipient’s own English rendering may also be preferable for a privately branded building, university, hotel, or company.
Check these details before sending
- Confirm the base address with the official road-name address search.
- Copy the official English road and place-name spellings.
- Include the building or tower, floor, and unit exactly as the recipient supplied them.
- Use the current five-digit postal code.
- Keep the district and major city or province even if the form divides them awkwardly.
- Place Rep. of KOREA on the final line of international mail.
- Add the recipient’s telephone number when the courier or seller requests it.
For immigration paperwork, banking, contracts, or an expensive shipment, keep both versions of the destination. The English address helps the overseas sender and form provider, while the complete Hangul address gives Korean postal and delivery staff an unambiguous local reference.