Pictures are to scale: 1 cm is approximately 10 pixels.
If you have any corrections, additions or remarks to any of the plates or their descriptions,
please e-mail me.
| Normal series plates | |
 |
1973-1995 Private vehicle plate. 강원 = Gangwon province. |
 |
1995-2004 Private vehicle plate. 경기 = Gyeonggi province, 61 = car.
Compared to the previous series, the vehicle class code on the top row was extended to 2 digits and a more squarish font was introduced. As sort of security feature, the textual equivalent of the four main digits was debossed in small scipt at the bottom left (in this case 사삼영영 for 4300). |
 |
2004-2007 normal series plate. 57 = car from Jeollabuk province, 구 = passenger vehicle. |
 |
2007 onwards normal series plate. 60 = car, 구 = passenger vehicle. In 2007, European size plates were introduced, and the color of normal series plates changed from green to white. Also the province coding of normal series car plates was discontinued. |
| Motorcycle plates | |
 |
Motorcyle plate, probably 1960s or 1970s. 경남 = Gyeongsang-nam province. |
 |
1973 onwards motorcyle plate. 보산 사상 = Busan city, Sasang district. |
| Special series plates | |
 |
1994 onwards construction machinery plate. 충남 = Chungjeong-nam province, 07 = truck mounted crane, orange color = commercial/for business. |
 |
Foreigner plate, probably non-diplomatic embassy staff. Probably from the early 1970s. |
 |
pre-1999 diplomatic plate. 서울 = Seoul, 0 = imported vehicle 외 = diplomat, 01 = United States. |
 |
Older temporary wood plate from Incheon. This series was used before the dated six digit plates shown below were introduced. The Korean Text at the bottom means "The mayor of Incheon City". |
 |
Temporary wood plate from Ulsan, valid January 8 to January 17, 1999. The Korean text at the bottom means "Ulsan City head of vehicle registrations". |
See also from the
Military Forces Abroad page:
| United States forces in Korea | |
 |
Older plate, most likely issued by United States authorities, before the Korean issued series commenced. |
 |
Late 1970s private car plate. 전북 = Jeolla-buk province. These plates look similar to normal Korean plates, but the Korean serial letters at the start of the second line are replaced with a numeral. |
 |
Temporary exit plate expiring Feb. 20, 1989 issued by the United States to US forces vehicles leaving Korea. The normal Korean issued US forces plates have to be surrendered before the vehicle leaves the country. These US issued plates enable the vehicle to be used until new plates are issued in the country of destination. |