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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화주는 운송·통관을 맡기는 화물의 주인입니다. 보내는 쪽을 송하인, 받는 쪽을 수하인이라 하며, 둘을 아울러 화주라고 부릅니다.

포워더는 자기 배나 비행기 없이, 선사·항공사의 설비를 이용해 화주 대신 수출입 운송을 주선하는 회사입니다. 법에서는 국제물류주선업자라고 합니다.

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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The point at which the express operator files the manifest of goods entering under list clearance. It is the first step of clearance, and the goods may not have reached Korea yet.

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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 document listing everything carried on one sailing or flight, filed with customs. It is filed both inbound and outbound, and splits into the master filed by the carrier and the house filed by the forwarder.

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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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Cargo listed on the manifest that did not actually arrive. It is one of the grounds for amending a manifest, filed by the party responsible for it at the customs house of arrival.

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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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A company registered with customs under the Customs Act to carry express consignments. Customs grades each operator and varies inspection rates accordingly, so which one carries your goods affects how fast they clear.

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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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A bonded facility a company licenses and runs for the cargo it handles itself. Korean law calls it a self-use bonded warehouse, as distinct from a commercial one that stores other parties' goods for a fee.

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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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A status marked irregular means the item is over the normal parcel size or weight, or shaped so it cannot run on the standard line. Collected means picked up, line-haul means moving between hubs, delivered means handed over.

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