Search "how many bottles can I bring into Korea" and every answer says two. That number is no longer in the rule.
Korea Customs Service publishes the passenger allowance in Korean and in English, and both pages now describe liquor the same way: total volume up to 2 litres, total value up to US$400. Nothing about how many bottles that is split across.
That matters if you were planning to buy three small bottles instead of two big ones, and it matters more because the rest of the allowance is easy to trip over. Here is what the two official pages actually say.
The headline number is US$800, and your drink is not in it
General goods come in free of duty if their total taxable value is US$800 or less. That covers the clothes, the cosmetics, the electronics, the souvenirs — everything you bought abroad and are carrying in.
Then, listed separately from that US$800, come four more allowances. They do not eat into the 800.
| Item | Allowance |
|---|---|
| General goods | US$800 total taxable value |
| Agricultural, livestock, fishery products | Inside the US$800. Up to 5 kg per item, 40 kg in total, and up to KRW 100,000 of purchase price |
| Liquor | Total volume 2 L or less and total value US$400 or less |
| Filtered cigarettes | 200 sticks |
| E-cigarette liquid nicotine | 20 ml, nicotine content under 1% |
| Perfume | 100 ml |
One line to read twice: travellers under 19, counted by birth year rather than birthday, get no allowance at all for liquor or tobacco. Not a smaller one. None.
Why the bottle count disappeared
The old wording was two bottles, 2 litres, US$400 — three conditions, and the bottle count was the one that caught people out. Buy three 375 ml miniatures well under the value limit and you were technically over.
Both official pages now list only the volume and the value. The Korean page reads, in the parenthesis after 주류: total volume 2 L or less and total price US$400 or less. The English page says the same thing.
So the practical answer to "how many bottles" is that the number is not what is being measured. Add up the litres, add up the dollars, and stay under both.
Going over is fine. Not saying so is expensive
Nobody is required to keep under the allowance. You are required to declare when you go over it, and Korea makes the arithmetic of that decision very plain.
Declare voluntarily and you get a 30% reduction from the standard customs duty on the excess.
Get through without declaring and be found out, and there is an additional tax of 40% on top of the tax payable. If you are caught a second time within two years, that becomes 60%.
So the gap between the best case and the worst case on the same suitcase is a 30% discount versus a 60% surcharge. That is the whole argument for ticking the box.
Some things must be declared whatever they cost
The allowance is irrelevant for a long list of items. The ones travellers actually carry:
- All food — meat, fruit, vegetables, live seafood, plants, and processed versions of any of them
- Means of payment over US$10,000 — cash and cashier's cheques together
- Commercial goods, samples, and anything you are bringing in for repair
- Medicines liable to misuse or abuse
- Anything infringing a trademark or other intellectual property right
- Goods you took out of Korea and are bringing back in
The food line is the one that surprises people most often. A vacuum-packed sausage from a European market is an animal product, and it goes on the form regardless of price.
Two more categories sit outside the allowance entirely. Prohibited: sexually inappropriate material, and forged or counterfeit currency, bonds and securities. Restricted: firearms, narcotics, and anything covered by CITES — that includes ivory, coral, certain orchids and cacti, and traditional medicines made from animals such as bear gall bladder or musk. Restricted goods need full clearance requirements met no matter how little they are worth.
What I could not confirm
Three things I would have liked to include and am not going to guess at.
The actual duty rate charged on goods over the line depends on the item, and the passenger pages do not carry a rate table. The Customs Service runs a separate estimated-tax lookup for that.
Whether purchases at the on-arrival duty free shops at the airport count inside or outside the US$800 is not stated on the passenger clearance page I read.
And limits on the way out — one of the questions people search for — is not covered there either. If you are leaving with a lot of goods, that is a separate enquiry.
The short version
US$800 of general goods. Separately, 2 litres and US$400 of liquor with no bottle count, 200 cigarettes, 20 ml of vape liquid, and 100 ml of perfume. Nothing at all for under-19s on drink and tobacco.
Over the line, declare it and pay 30% less duty. Do not, and pay 40% more tax, or 60% on a repeat.
If you are working out what the trip costs before you get to the airport, I put together what Seoul actually costs at published prices. For the cash and card side of the same arrival, including the US$10,000 declaration in more detail, see money in Korea. And if you are shopping seriously, the tax refund rules have three limits that decide whether you get anything back.
The allowances and the penalties are set by the Korea Customs Service, not by me. Before you pack, open their passenger page and check the current figures yourself.
Check the official Korea Customs page →Sources
- Korea Customs Service, Individuals > Travelers > Customs Clearance Guide for Passengers (English)
- Korea Customs Service, 여행자 휴대품 통관 (Korean version of the same guide)
Both checked on 13 August 2026. Allowances and penalties change, so confirm before you fly.
