South Korea address format & examples

We can see you panicking from a mile away because you don’t know South Korea’s address format. Have no fear; Smarty is here. You stumbled upon the ultimate guide for South Korean address formats. PHEW! Take a minute to breathe deeply, then grab some kimchi and settle in. Enjoy browsing South Korea’s address examples here and try out our suite of address validation tools for addresses in South Korea below. Just enter an address, and we'll format, standardize, and validate the address faster than you can binge a K-drama.

Transliterating Hangul addresses to English characters

Before we get started, here’s a note on transliteration: Address transliteration is the process of converting address characters in one alphabet (in this case Hangul characters) to another (English or Latin characters) while still preserving the intended tone and representation of the words. In other words, we’re using Latin characters to represent the phonetics of Hangul words. It’s important to understand that transliteration isn’t the same as translation. (That’s why translating tools don’t always get the message right). Transliteration is a mechanism that we use to bridge language barriers while maintaining mailability and accuracy to the phonics of those words, and this is one of the countries where Smarty offers transliteration services.

South Korea’s address format should be written as follows:

1. Addressee line - The recipient's full name, followed by their title, if known. For example, "김영수 과장님" (Kim Young-Soo Gwajangnim), where "과장님" (Gwajangnim) means "Manager."
2. Building - The building gets its own, special line here.
3. Building number and street name and dependent locality - These items should be included in this order (the order is highly important) without any separating punctuation.
4. City - The city gets its own line, here.
5. Administreative area and Postal code - The administrative area and postal code go next without separating punctuation.
6. Country - Write “KOR” in all caps on the last line.

Listen to some K-pop as we provide you with even more detailed information on South Korea’s address parts.