Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crescent]

Anyone know of the restrictions? My wife and I are leaving and want to carry a $5,000 bar each. The total money we are physically carrying out is under $10,000 each, but I can't seem to find answers regarding gold itself.

[young_clinton]

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[Stan Rogers]

I don't know many people who would put a bar or gold in checked baggage. That said, if you carry a metal oblect on board the airplane, it will raise eyebrows.

I'm sure there us a legal way to do it. Dave's in not the place to be getting advice on this.

[ttompatz]

[Steelrails]

Uhh...why don't you bring the bars over and we'll discuss it over many drinks and a nice walk in the woods. Or a dark alley if you aren't into the whole nature thing.

[crescent]

Yikes. I'd never put it in checked baggage, but sounds too complicated considering a multi stop flight. Will keep it with the inlaws.

Thanks ttompatz.

[Rockhard]

I wouldn't do it. There's bound to be some obscure law about taking gold out of the country.

[EZE]

I've carried gold from outside of the USA into the USA several times, but the biggest individual piece was only 37.5 grams. It sounds like you two have 100 gram bars. If you're worried, maybe it would be better to swap them into coins and here's why:

1. Travelers always get hung with a lot of coins when they travel, so customs agents see so many coins of various sizes and densities. Put your gold ones in those various slots and hidey-holes in your wallet and set your wallet on top of your change in the bowl when it goes through the x-ray machine. It'll blend in and they never check the contents of your wallet anyway, even when they search your bags.

2. If the coins are legal tender, that can potentially add a layer of protection. If you put them in your carry-on and don't report them and customs finds them....they won't, but for sake of conversation, let's pretend they do and they ask why you didn't report it. You can tell them they're legal tender coins and you're not over the money limit based on neither the gold content value nor the legal tender value. It would be better to use coins from South Korea or your homeland for this. If you're Canadian, use Maple Leaves, for example. There are all sorts of those 1988 Olympic gold coins around and they're legal tender, the premium is almost nothing, and they're pretty cool coins actually. It's a little bit harder to find specific foreign coins, but you can find them if you look around enough.

If things go really badly, really play the "warzone" card, which should work especially well if you're flying to the USA. Just say, "The Korean War is technically not over, so I always keep gold on my person just in case war suddenly breaks out and I need to barter it to get to Japan or home." They'll eat that sh-t up like ice cream.

Just be normal, polite, and downhome. They have to deal with a lot of rude people. If you carry coins and are polite, I really doubt things could go wrong.

Be casual about carrying it. Don't be like these idiots: http://news.yahoo.com/skorea-men-arrested-smuggling-gold-rectums-092824419.html

I think the customs fee to carry it outside of South Korea is 20%.

[I-am-me]

Checked luggate..Lol. You will need to give it to airport official who will take it to the plane and secure it for you.

[Jake_Kim]

In principle, taking gold bars out of Korea is regarded as export of precious metal, which is means of payment like foreign currency. For not being a registered merchant, you need a permit from the central bank AND you need to declare such export to Korea Customs.
Dial the number posted at the bottom of http://www.bok.or.kr/broadcast.action?menuNaviId=698, the Foreign Exchange Transactions desk, for your permit.