Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kimchijigijig]

Has anyone taken the korean drivers license test?

I am looking at obtaining one and I would like to know the procedures involved and where I can take the test/s in English that includes the written and driving test.

My license from my home country expired a while ago since I have been living outside it for a number of years so I know I have to take this method.

[World Traveler]

Once you get a license, be careful! Remember to drive safely and know and obey all traffic laws.
http://www.koreaontherocks.com/forums/t1316-denied-e1-visa-because-of-car-accident.html

[alice_w]

I got my Korean DL in Gangneung in 2006. Doing so was a monumental hassle for me! I wish you a smoother run!

It involved:
1. Written test
2. Eye test
3. Watching a 3-hour video in KOREAN
4. Lego-land onsite driving test (What's your Korean like? This portion of the test was touch for me -- I failed it twice -- as I couldn't understand what to do! Finally I had to take a Korean friend to help me understand.)
5. Road test

Good luck!

[jamesd]

[kimchijigijig]

sorry forgot to mention that I am in Seoul. have tried the website www.dla.go.kr but the site isn't recognized

[nathanrutledge]

http://dl.koroad.or.kr/Servlet/Main

That's the site they use now.

I just got mine a few weeks ago. It's complicated, but easy.

Be prepared to walk back and forth and gets stamps and get nickeled and dimed to death.

The general procedure is this:

Sign up on site for the training - an hour long video, in Korean, but with English subtitles. All in all, it was actually pretty entertaining. Not particularly useful for how to drive safely, but it talks about some statistics and causes of accidents here in Korea. It also compares Korea to Japan, quite unfavorably. No one noticed though because they were all hunched down over their desks studying their review guides.

After this, you take the eye test.

Next, you sign up for the written test. This test is on the computer. Lots of folks will tell you it makes no sense, but I found it to be, for the most part, very well done. Yes, some of the translations are crap, and some of the questions make zero sense (What's the best way to use the air conditioner?) but you only need a 75% to pass. I passed with a 78% and I KNOW I missed the weird ones and a couple of regular ones because of bad translations. IF you're a good driver and can actually read for information, you should be fine. Most of the questions were 4 multi choice answers, you pick two - two of them were obviously wrong, so the other two were the right ones.

After this, you sign up for the course test. This is also simple. Get in the car. Listen to the instructions over the speaker (in Korean, but on the screen in English) and do what it says. Turn on the car. Left blinker/right blinker, wipers, high beams/low beams, etc... Then you drive slowly in a straight line. When you hear the alarm, hit the brakes, turn on the emergency flashers and turn off the car. Start it up again, turn the corner, then stop.

Finally, you can take the road test. Drive out in Korean traffic with an instructor who knows zero English. They show you a map, and explain what to do with a video (all in Korean, no subtitles) but, at least where I was at, the video was SPECIFIC to that testing center. They actually filmed it on the actual road we went on. Go out, do the test, come back, parallel park and you're done.

My road test was stressful. I've been driving since I was 15 (rural state) and have logged around a quarter million miles all over the US. This driving instructor shows me why Koreans drive the way they do! Every time I wanted to slow down and let someone by me, he'd yell at me to hurry up and cut them off. I'd take my eyes off the road in front to look in the blind spot and he'd yell about looking ahead. Finally, when we got back to the testing center, I had to trade seats with the other student so I could parallel park. I went to put the seat belt on and the instructor told me not to - it would only take a few seconds. Well, during the video they say if you fail to wear your seat belt for any portion of the test, you fail, so I figured he was testing me. No, he was serious and got pissy when I kept trying to put it on...

You need to have a couple of passport sized photos for this and about 50-60k won (i don't remember how much exactly, it was taken in bits and pieces). Also, be prepared for it to be a couple day thing - If you get in right away in the morning and get done with the video and test right away, it's POSSIBLE that you could do the course and road test in the same day, but you have to pass each part before you can sign up for the next one.

Good luck!

[OHIO]

Why bother with a Korean license? I've driven for years on my USA one. Been stopped once or twice, the cop didn't say anything about not having a Korean one.

[nathanrutledge]

[Drew10]

So if you do a license swap you don't have to take all these tests?

[kimchijigijig]

[nathanrutledge]

[akcrono]

My license is set to expire next month. Do I have renew my license before I can trade it in? How would I go about renewing my license from out of country?

[nathanrutledge]

[ttompatz]

[Drew10]