Can I send food to South Korea?
Yes, with conditions.
Sealed, shelf-stable food in personal amounts (for example 5 kg per item). No list clearance, and quarantine items must pass inspection. Leave out meat and fresh produce.
For every Onvoyo box: Only sealed, shop-bought, shelf-stable food. Express couriers don't carry perishable food: nothing fresh, frozen, meat, dairy or produce.
More rules for South Korea
Allowed with conditions
- Health supplements
- Up to 6 bottles in total without extra checks. More can clear with a Korean doctor's opinion; otherwise it needs approval. Products with CITES ingredients such as musk, products the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has banned or flagged as harmful, unclear ingredient labels, and single medicines with ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, ergotamine, or ergometrine need approval first.
- Food and farm products
- Personal amounts only, for example 5 kg each of sesame oil, honey, mushrooms, walnuts, jerky, or seafood, and 1 kg of pine nuts. Anything covered by plant, animal, or aquatic-animal quarantine laws must pass quarantine even within these amounts, and food can't use list clearance.
Quantity limits
- Food
- Personal amounts such as 5 kg each of honey, sesame oil, mushrooms, walnuts, or seafood, 1 kg of pine nuts, and 300 g of ginseng. Quarantine items must still pass inspection.
Before you ship to South Korea
- Tax-free limit
- Personal-use goods received by a resident of Korea with a goods price of USD 150 (about KRW 206,000) or less are free of duty and VAT. Boxes shipped from the United States get USD 200 (about KRW 275,000) when they qualify for list clearance; boxes that need a full declaration (for example because they hold food or medicine) get USD 150. Gifts follow the same limit. The goods price leaves out international shipping and insurance when they are shown separately. Boxes on one waybill are added together, and above the limit duty and VAT apply to the whole value, not just the excess.
- Receiver ID
- PCCC: Personal Customs Clearance Code (개인통관고유부호) needed. A code of P plus 12 digits that Korea Customs Service issues in place of a resident registration number to identify the receiver. Apply on the KCS e-commerce customs portal after an identity check. Foreigners need an alien registration card (or residence certificate) and a Korean mobile phone or certificate in their own name, or can apply in person at a customs office. From 2026 each code is valid for one year; codes issued before 2026 expire on the holder's birthday in 2027. If the receiver has no alien registration card yet, sort this out with the courier before you ship.
- Transit
- 2-5 business days from Europe or North America; 1-3 from elsewhere in Asia
Questions
Can I send food to South Korea?
Yes, with conditions. Sealed, shelf-stable food in personal amounts (for example 5 kg per item). No list clearance, and quarantine items must pass inspection. Leave out meat and fresh produce.
Ask about a specific item
Official sources
- 1.
Korean Law Information Center (Korea Customs Service notice)
수입통관 사무처리에 관한 고시 (opens in a new tab) - 2.
Korea Customs Service
Express Cargo Clearance (opens in a new tab) - 3.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
관세법 (opens in a new tab) - 4.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
부가가치세법 (opens in a new tab) - 5.
Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency
종자류, 수분용 화분 식물검역증명서 의무화 안내 (opens in a new tab) - 6.
- 7.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
관세법 시행규칙 (opens in a new tab) - 8.
Korea Customs Service
주간 환율 | 관세청 전자상거래 통관포털 (opens in a new tab)
General guidance, not legal advice. Customs in South Korea makes the final decision on every box.