Glossary

The government body responsible for clearing imports and exports and assessing duty. Personal customs clearance codes, one-time authentication codes and the weekly customs exchange rate all come from it.

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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.

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A 13-character code beginning with P, issued to individuals by Korea Customs. It identifies you at clearance in place of a resident registration number, and from 2026 it is used together with a one-time authentication code.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The list of everything loaded on an arriving vessel or aircraft, filed with customs. Nothing can be unloaded or moved into a bonded warehouse until it is accepted — due 24 hours before arrival by sea, 4 hours by air.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The report telling customs that a shipment has entered a bonded warehouse. When tracking shows this, the goods are in Korea and in storage, but the import declaration has not been filed yet.

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The report telling customs that cleared goods are leaving the bonded warehouse. It is the last step of clearance, after which the shipment passes to a domestic courier.

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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.

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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.

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A code Korea Customs sends by email or text for each overseas purchase — commonly called the PCCC OTP. It is entered alongside the personal customs clearance code to confirm the buyer, and took effect on 28 August 2026.

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