Before you start

An Alien Registration Card — the exchange is for residents only
Your foreign licence plus an apostille or embassy confirmation of authenticity
Passport with entry and exit records
Three colour photos, 3.5 × 4.5 cm, taken within six months

Step-by-step

1
Get the IDP before leaving home
Korea recognises 1949 Geneva Convention permits, issued only in the country that issued your licence. Valid one year from your date of entry and carried together with the original home licence — the permit alone is not a licence. It cannot be obtained after arrival, and leaving and returning does not reset the year.
In personWho: You, in your home countryBefore departureLocal IDP fee, typically under US$25
2
Arrange the apostille at the same time
KoROAD needs proof your foreign licence is genuine. An apostille from the issuing authority is the reliable route, since several embassies in Seoul have stopped issuing confirmation letters. Doing it from Daegu afterwards means couriering documents home and waiting weeks.
In personWho: You, in your home countryBefore departureVaries by country
3
Check the reciprocity list for your country
Acknowledged countries skip both the written and practical tests, leaving an eyesight and aptitude check. Everyone else sits a 40-question written test in English. A few countries have class-limited or partial arrangements, so read the entry for yours rather than assuming from a forum post.
OnlineWho: YouBefore booking
4
Attend the KoROAD examination office
Bring the ARC, passport with entry records, foreign licence, apostille and photos. Usually completed the same day though allow half a day. Your foreign licence is surrendered and held until you permanently leave Korea, so obtain a duplicate at home first if you will need it abroad.
In personWho: YouOften same dayLicence issuance fee KRW 10,000, or KRW 15,000 for the IC card
5
Buy a transit card anyway
One rechargeable card covers Daegu's three metro lines and all buses with free transfers, and Line 3's elevated monorail is genuinely the fastest way across the middle of the city. Fares are among the cheapest in Korea. Even car owners here use it downtown, where parking is the one place it does get tight.
In personWho: You5 minutesCard roughly KRW 2,500–4,000; fares around KRW 1,500
6
If you buy a car, plan around the airport moving
Compulsory motor insurance is required and open to foreign residents through the major insurers, and a Hi-Pass transponder handles expressway tolls. One thing to build into a long-term plan: Daegu International Airport is slated to relocate to a new joint civil-military airport in Gunwi and Uiseong, well outside the current city, around the end of the decade. Timelines have moved before, but a house chosen for its twenty-minute airport run may not stay that way.
In personWho: You with a dealer and an insurer1–2 weeksInsurance varies; parking is cheap by Korean standards

Documents you’ll need

Alien Registration Card
Passport with entry and exit records
Foreign driver's licence plus apostille or embassy confirmation
Three colour photos, 3.5 × 4.5 cm
International Driving Permit, if driving before conversion

Things most newcomers don’t know

Daegu is the large Korean city where owning a car is straightforwardly sensible.

The city sits on a flat basin with a wide grid inherited from its industrial expansion, parking is cheap and plentiful outside the downtown core, and the employers most foreigners work for — the Innovation City agencies, the medical complex, DGIST, the industrial estates — are exactly the places the three metro lines serve badly. In Seoul a car is a burden; here it is often the difference between a twenty-minute and a seventy-minute commute.

Source: community-reported

Both documents the exchange needs can only be obtained where your licence came from.

The Geneva Convention IDP and the apostille proving your licence is genuine are issued only by authorities in the licence's home country. Once you are in Daegu, fixing either means couriering paperwork home and waiting weeks. People discover this at the KoROAD counter months after the point at which it was a trivial errand. Sort both before you fly.

Source: KoROAD; US Embassy Seoul

The airport is scheduled to move a long way out of the city, and that should inform a long lease.

Daegu International shares a runway with a military airbase, and the plan is to relocate both to a new joint airport in Gunwi and Uiseong toward the end of the decade, freeing the current site for redevelopment. Timelines on Korean airport projects have slipped before, so treat the date as provisional — but a district chosen because it is close to the airport today is making a bet.

Source: community-reported

Line 3's monorail is not a novelty — it is the fastest crosstown route.

It runs elevated above the streets on a north-south axis, unaffected by the traffic below, and it connects districts that the two underground lines miss entirely. Newcomers treat it as a sightseeing ride because of the view and then commute by bus. Check whether it serves your route before assuming you need to drive across the middle of the city.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving without a Geneva Convention IDP and finding it cannot be obtained in Korea.
Leaving the apostille until after the move and waiting weeks for documents from home.
Assuming reciprocity applies without checking KoROAD's current list.
Surrendering your original foreign licence without obtaining a duplicate at home first.
Signing a long lease on the strength of a short airport run that is scheduled to change.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.