Glossary

A waybill is the document recording the carriage contract between the sender and the company moving the goods. Each shipment carries a unique waybill number by which its progress is followed.

A 13-character code beginning with P, issued free by Korea Customs to an individual. It identifies the recipient when a personal import is cleared, in place of a resident registration number.

A simplified route for low-value personal imports, cleared on a list of the goods rather than a full import declaration. The threshold is USD 200 from the United States and USD 150 from elsewhere.

A bill of lading issued by a forwarder to an individual shipper. Express and sea freight arriving from abroad is normally tracked by this number, which usually begins with H.

A bill of lading issued by the carrier to the forwarder. It covers the consignments of many shippers at once, so an individual cannot locate their own parcel by this number.

The process by which goods arriving from abroad are checked by customs and released into the country: arrival, unloading report, warehouse entry, import declaration, release, and departure from the warehouse.

Small consignments carried quickly by an express operator, by air or sea, cleared through a simpler procedure than ordinary imports. Most cross-border online purchases arrive this way.

The point at which customs accepts the import declaration and the goods may enter the country. Duty and VAT are fixed here, and clearance is effectively complete.

A place where goods on which duty has not yet been paid are held under customs control. Imported goods stay there until clearance is complete.

Above the list-clearance threshold — USD 200 from the United States, USD 150 elsewhere — duty and value-added tax apply. The taxable amount is the price of the goods plus freight and insurance.

The rate used to convert a foreign-currency price into won when duty is assessed. Korea Customs publishes it weekly, and it applies to every import declared in that week.