Having an idea of Korean address can come in handy. Especially when you would like to send mail to someone you know living in South Korea or your loved ones are hoping to send you a care package while you’re in South Korea.

How to Write a Korean Address

If you stay in South Korea and send mail to someone else in the country, you’ll also want to know how to write the address in Korean first before sending anything out. Writing a Korean address can seem complicated or intimidating at first. It is of great advantage to check out an article like ours for some assistance.

South Korean Address Format

Regardless of whether you are sending a package or a postcard, you will similarly format the address. Typically, you are expected to include your information on each mail item – aka sender’s information. The placement of this generally is in the upper left corner. Essentially, you are writing two addresses each time for the sender and the receiver.

Name

In the address format, you’ll first write the name. This applies to both the sender and receiver’s information. For Korean names, the family name should come first.

Address Line

Below the name, you will write the address itself. Unlike in many Western countries, you’ll write the address in the opposite way. Instead of the street number or name, you’ll start with the largest division like the city or province, going to the smaller division. This is the usual order of writing the address:

• City or Province
• District or Municipality
• Street name
• Building number
• Apartment number/House number

Postal Code

Finally, below the address, you will add the postal code. They used to be six digits, but only five are now used under the new address system.

Other relevant information on Korean addresses

On top of the format of writing Korean addresses, below is other helpful information that you should note.

New Korean address system

The information above shows the new system of writing an address in South Korea, which has only been in use for a few years. In the previous system, you would include the area within the district, but that is no longer necessary. Instead, you will use the names of South Korean streets, as displayed above.

Due to this change, buildings were designated with new building numbers, which has been received with some negative reactions from Koreans. However, especially for us foreigners, it makes navigating South Korea much easier.

Both address systems are still in use, so you will still see addresses written using the old mail system. Your mail may still go through even with the old address system but try your best to rely on the new format of addresses in South Korea.

Road designations for South Korean addresses

There are three different road designations in the address system used in South Korea.

대로 (daero)

대로 (daero) is designated for the biggest streets in each city where the big roads are.

로- (ro-)

The next one is 로- (ro-), designated for roads or streets smaller than 대로 (daero). These roads usually have 2 to 7 lanes.

길 (gil)

Lastly, roads designated as 길 (gil) are typically the smallest of the bunch having only one lane. This often branches as smaller streets off a bigger 로- (ro-) designated street.

Writing addresses with multistory buildings

An apartment or officetel is a typical building in South Korea. If you are sending mail to someone living in multistory buildings like these, you also need to know and write down the floor number and the apartment or suite number. Just writing down building numbers isn’t enough.

So, for example, if someone lives on the 6th floor, in apartment 33, and the building number is still the 114, as presented in the example above, then the written address would look like this:

서울특별시 강남구 선릉로190길 114 6층 33호

#33, 6th Floor, 114, Seolleungro-190gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

What about if the address looked like this instead?

서울특별시 강남구 선릉로190길 33-6?

33-6, Seolleungro-190gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

In this case, the building is located on a street, branching off a bigger street that’s too short to have its own street name. All of the buildings on this small street probably have the same building number, 33 in our example, and a separate number follows the hyphenation.

Example of a Korean address in Korean

Before learning how to write Korean addresses, it’s best to learn the Korean alphabet first to help you understand the process better. Here is an example of a South Korean address written in the Korean language. We have also included its Korean romanization below.

김서준

서울특별시 강남구 선릉로190길 114

06010

(대한민국)

Romanization:

Kim Seojun

Seoulteukbyeolsi Gangnamgu Seolleungro-190gil 114

06010

(Daehanminguk)

Example of a Korean Address in English

And here is how you can write that address in English. It will be useful to know if you are sending or receiving mail from abroad. You can also use this within South Korea, but mail carriers will find the receiver much faster if you write it in Korean.

Seojun Kim

114, Seolleungro-190gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

06010 South Korea

Helpful tools for Korean Address

Understanding the concept of Korean addresses may be a bit difficult at first. We’ve added some resources below that you can use if you need to write down or locate a Korean address.

Korean Address Generator

BestRandoms

To help you become more familiar with Korean addresses, you can use this tool to generate random addresses in Korea.

Korean Address Converter

Road Name Address

If you have the address details in Korean, you can run it in this Korean address converter to know how it is written in English.

The generated information also includes the land lot, zip code, and the exact location of the address on their map.

Vocabulary Related to Korean address

The following are important details to know regarding writing addresses in South Korea. They will also teach you how each city and town in South Korea is constructed. Note that not all of the below information is required to write each and every address.

Korean	English
주소 (juso)	Address
봉투 (bongtu)	Envelope
속달 (sokdal)	Express mail
광고성 우편 (gwanggoseong upyeon)	Junk mail
편지 (pyeonji)	Letter
편지를 쓰다 (pyeonjireul sseuda)	Write a letter
집배원 (jipbaewon)	Mail carrier
이름 (ireum)	Name
소포 (sopo)	Package
엽서 (yeopseo)	Postcard
소인 (soin)	Postmark
우체국 (ucheguk)	Post office
받는 사람 (banneun saram)	Recipient
보내는 사람 (bonaeneun saram)	Sender
등기 (deunggi)	Registered mail
우표 (upyo)	Stamp
우편번호 (upyeonbeonho)	Zip code
도 (do)	Province
시 (si)	City
군 (gun)	Municipality
읍 (eup)	Center of a municipality
리 (ri)	Specific area within a neighborhood
면 (myeon)	Villages surrounding the municipality's center
구 (gu)	District within a big city
동 (dong)	Area within a district
가 (ga)	Block
대로 (daero)	Big road
로 (ro)	Road (with 2 to 7 lanes)
길 (gil)	Road (with 1 lane)

Useful Sentences related to Korean addresses

Here are some sentences that you can use when talking about addresses in South Korea.

Korean	English
이거 제 주소예요. (igeo je jusoyeyo.)	This is my address.
제일 가까운 우체국이 어디예요? (jeil gakkaun ucheguki eodiyeyo?)	Where is the closest post office?
우표 하나 주세요. (upyo hana juseyo.)	Can I have one stamp, please?
항공편으로 보내 주세요. (hanggongpyeoneuro bonae juseyo.)	Please send it as air mail.
이 소포를 프랑스로 보내고 싶어요. (i soporeul peurangseuro bonaego sipeoyo.)	I want to send this package to France.

Now that you have learned about writing South Korean addresses, you are well equipped to start sending out mail! You can also start sharing your address with others so that you can also receive mail! Next up, maybe you would like to know how to survive a trip to a Korean bank using Korean?

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