A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO KOREAN ADDRESS WRITING

Credits to: Gantas

Are you a newcomer in South Korea and want to know how to write your address correctly? Here’s a short guide to writing your Korean address correctly!

STEP 1: TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHERE YOU LIVE

Korean addresses can vary slightly depending on the area's dimensions. There are small differences in how you write your address if you live in a big city, a small town, or a village/province.

STEP 2: RESPECT THE CORRECT SEQUENCE OF ELEMENTS

Each element of your Korean address should follow a specific sequence of elements that is actually easy to use and remember once you know the rules.

• If you live in a big city, you need to mention the city/province first, then the district, street name/neighbourhood, building number, and floor/room exactly in this order.

• If you live in a small town, you need to mention the province, city, road name, building number, and floor/room.

• If you live in a village/province, you need to mention the province, the rural region, then the town and road name, building number, and floor/room.

STEP 3: KNOW THE ESSENTIAL KOREAN VOCABULARY

Reading and writing Korean addresses correctly requires you to know a short list of Korean terms. Here are the terms for the most important elements that everyone uses when writing addresses in Korean.

Administrative divisions & populated areas

• City - 시 (si)

• Town - 읍 (eup)

• Village - 리 (ri)

• Province - 도 (do)

• Rural region/township - 면 (myeon)

• District (urban) - 구 (gu)

• Neighbourhood - 동 (dong)

Buildings & address details

• Building number - 번지 (beonji)

• Floor - 층 (cheung)

• Room - 호 (ho)

WHAT SHOULD YOU KEEP IN MIND WHEN WRITING A KOREAN ADDRESS?

• Korean addresses go from big to small, so the correct way to write them is going from big to small, like zooming in on a map. Here’s an easy scheme to remember the right order: city – district – street – building – room number.

• Always include the building name and room number in the address.

• If you add the recipient’s name, you have to write it at the top or just before the address. In Korean, you often add 귀하 (gwiha) after the person’s name in formal mail, which means 'To'/'Dear'.

• Always include your phone number along with your address for deliveries.

• The phone number is placed right after the name or at the end of the address block (before the postal code in some forms). On delivery packages, courier companies almost always ask you to put it under the recipient’s name so the driver can contact them.

• Keep building/apartment names in Korean or official romanisation and never translate them to avoid confusion.

• The traditional Korean-style address format requires that the postal code be placed in front of the full address. The postal code is always a 5-digit code (since the 2015 reform).

• The order of elements for international mail is different: recipient’s name - street address + building number + apartment/floor/room - neighbourhood (dong/ri) + district (gu/gun) - city (si) + province (do) - postal code - country: South Korea - phone number (optional, but recommended for deliveries).

Example of address:

Name: Kim Elena

Phone Number: 010-1234-5678

Address: 서울특별시 서대문구 신촌로 3다길 23 5층 506호

Seoul, Sodaemun-gu, Sinchon-ro, 3-dagil, 23, 5th floor, apartment 506

By understanding the structure and order of Korean addresses, you’ll be able to write them correctly for both domestic and international mail. Are you ready to give it a try?