Swiss Licence in South Korea 2026: IDP First, Then 100 km/h

A Swiss driver will feel at home with South Korea’s road quality and orderly motorway network — but not with its paperwork. The permit rules here are stricter than anything you meet around Europe, and that is the thing to settle before you book a car.

Take the 1968 permit. Article 96 of Korea’s Road Traffic Act lets visitors drive for one year from entry on an international permit issued under either the 1949 Geneva or the 1968 Vienna convention. Switzerland signed the 1949 text but never ratified it, and has been a 1968 party since 1991, so the permit your cantonal road-traffic office issues is the 1968 version. That is the one Korea needs to see, together with your Swiss licence and passport. Nothing can be arranged on arrival, and driving without a valid permit is punishable under Article 152 by up to a year in prison or a fine of up to KRW 3,000,000. The Driving Permit Checker covers other licences.

On the road, the change is pace. Korean motorways default to 100 km/h, down from the Swiss 120 (only designated routes match it), and the limit is enforced with fixed and average-speed cameras rather than discretion. Towns are 50, but ordinary roads outside towns drop to 60 km/h (80 on dual carriageways), lower than the Swiss 80. Around 10 km/h over typically draws KRW 30,000 (roughly EUR 20) — you can estimate any penalty with the Speeding Fine Calculator.

Alcohol is tighter: the limit is 0.03 against the Swiss 0.05, with regular roadside checkpoints, so plan zero before driving. You drive on the right, exactly as at home, so there is no side switch — the one stylistic shift is that Korean city traffic changes lanes faster and more assertively than Swiss drivers tend to.

Petrol stations take cards at the pump, and there are no motorway vignettes to buy. The emergency number is 112. Keep your IDP, licence and passport together, download offline maps for rural routes signed only in Korean, and read the licence section of the South Korea driving guide before you travel.

Sources

• Korean government legal portal (easylaw), using a foreign driver’s licence (Road Traffic Act art. 96: 1949 or 1968 permits valid one year from entry; art. 152 penalty): easylaw.go.kr
• UN Treaty Collection, 1949 Convention on Road Traffic (Switzerland signed, not ratified): treaties.un.org
• UN Treaty Collection, 1968 Convention on Road Traffic (Switzerland party since 1991): treaties.un.org
• Enforcement Rule of the Road Traffic Act, art. 19 (speed limits): law.go.kr