Can you rent a car in Jeju on a foreign licence?

Korea accepts an International Driving Permit issued under either the 1949 Geneva Convention or the 1968 Vienna Convention — the Vienna permit has been accepted since 1 January 2002, which several travel guides still get wrong. The permit is valid for one year from the day you enter Korea, not from the day it was issued, and it has to be obtained before you fly. A mainland Chinese licence cannot be used at all, because China is party to neither convention.

Your licence

Where was your licence issued?We only rule on places we have checked against the authority.Months you will have been in Korea0 if you have not arrived yet. The clock runs from your entry date.Your ageYears you have held the licenceMost companies want at least one.

I already have the International Driving Permit bookletThe physical booklet — a photo or a scan is refused at the counter.

On these answers

You can drive — once you sort the permit

The permit has to be issued before you fly. It cannot be obtained in Korea and it cannot be emailed to you.

Fix before you flyYou need the permit before you flyAn International Driving Permit cannot be issued once you are in Korea, and it cannot be emailed to you. It has to be obtained from the authority that issued your licence, in that country, before departure. This is the single most common reason people are turned away at a rental counter.
Worth checkingCheck that your licensing authority issues a convention permitWe do not publish a country-by-country verdict, because getting one country wrong would leave someone stranded at an airport. Ask the body that issues driving permits where your licence was issued one question: can it issue an International Driving Permit under the 1949 Geneva Convention or the 1968 Vienna Convention? Korea accepts either.

See Jeju Airport rental prices

Same trip, next decision

The second decision at the counter: how much damage stays yours

Passing the licence check is the first hurdle. The second is the one the counter actually spends time on, and it is worth deciding before you are standing there with a queue behind you. Korean rental contracts separate three exposures, and a cheap headline rate normally means all three are still yours.

The excess (자기부담금). Basic cover pays for damage above a fixed amount and you pay everything below it. Reading “insurance included” as “damage costs me nothing” is where most of the surprise comes from.
Single-vehicle damage. Kerbing a wheel at a coast-road pull-in or scraping a wall in a narrow oreum car park involves no other driver, and the cheapest tiers commonly treat that class of damage differently from a collision.
Loss of use (휴차보상료). The one with no equivalent in most countries, and the one that catches visitors out: while the car sits in the workshop it is not earning, and Korean contracts routinely bill the renter for that idle period on top of the repair itself.

We publish no amounts for any of these. Excesses, daily loss-of-use rates and the tiers on offer are set per company and per vehicle class, and a figure we cannot re-read is a figure we do not print. What we can tell you is which three questions have an answer written on your contract — ask for all three before you sign, not after.

A common assumption is that travel insurance closes this gap. It usually does not: a travel policy covers the traveller, the rental contract covers the vehicle, and rental excess is a separately named add-on where it exists at all. Our cover checklist adds it as an item when you tell it you are renting.

Why this page is about Jeju and not Seoul

Seoul does not need a rental car. The subway reaches almost everywhere a visitor wants to go, central parking is scarce and expensive, and a car adds cost without adding reach. Jeju is the opposite: no subway, thin bus coverage, and the things worth seeing spread around a coast road. Renting there is close to the default rather than an upgrade, which is why this is the only rental page on the site.

What the law says, and what is only company policy

These two get mixed together constantly, and the difference matters — one of them you cannot argue with, the other varies by company.

Set by regulation

Korea recognises International Driving Permits issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention, and — since 1 January 2002 — permits issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention as well. (Korea Road Traffic Authority, checked 2026-08-04)
A foreign IDP is valid for one year from your date of entry into Korea, not one year from the date the permit was issued. (Korea Road Traffic Authority, checked 2026-08-04)
China is party to neither the Geneva nor the Vienna Convention, so a Chinese driving licence cannot produce an International Driving Permit that is valid in Korea. Permits issued in Hong Kong and Macau are recognised. (Korea Road Traffic Authority, checked 2026-08-04)

Set by the rental company

Rental companies generally require the physical booklet. A photo, a scan or a digital copy is usually refused at the counter.
You must carry your home-country licence as well as the permit. The permit is a translation of that licence, not a substitute for it, and counters check both.
The permit cannot be issued after you arrive. It has to come from the authority in the country that issued your licence, before you fly.

What we will not tell you

We do not publish a country-by-country verdict on which licences work. The convention lists run to roughly a hundred countries, and getting one of them wrong would leave somebody standing at a rental counter with a booking they cannot use. The three entries above are the ones we checked directly against the authority's own page. For anywhere else, ask the body that issued your licence a single question: can it issue an International Driving Permit under the 1949 Geneva Convention or the 1968 Vienna Convention? Korea accepts either.

Quick answers

Does Korea accept an International Driving Permit issued under the Vienna Convention?

Yes. Korea is a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention, and its road traffic authority states that permits issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention have also been accepted since 1 January 2002. Guides that say Korea recognises only the Geneva permit are out of date on this point.

Can I drive in Korea on a Chinese driving licence?

No. Korea’s road traffic authority states that China is party to neither the Geneva nor the Vienna Convention, so a mainland Chinese licence cannot produce an International Driving Permit that Korea accepts. Permits issued in Hong Kong and Macau are recognised and can be used.

How long is a foreign driving permit valid in Korea?

One year from your date of entry into Korea, rather than one year from the date the permit was issued. Those two dates are usually different, so a permit that has not expired on its own terms can still be past its validity in Korea.