International Driving Permit for Korea 2026: What Japanese Travelers Need to Rent a Car

Bottom line: If you hold a Japanese passport and want to rent a car in Korea, bring an International Driving Permit issued in Japan in the 1949 Geneva Convention format, together with your Japanese license and passport. Because both Japan and Korea are parties to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, that combination of documents is accepted at Korean rental counters as is.

If you didn't know: showing up with only your Japanese license or an English translation of it, without the International Driving Permit, gets your rental application rejected outright. If you can't find anywhere to get the permit on the spot and end up losing your reserved car, you forfeit the rental fee and deposit you already paid and have to rebuild your itinerary around taxis or public transit.

The 1949 Geneva Convention and the 1968 Vienna Convention are separate treaties with different permit formats. Japan issues its International Driving Permits in the 1949 Geneva format domestically, and Korea's road traffic rules recognize that same format, so the paperwork lines up cleanly between the two countries. An English-translated version of your Japanese license, however, is not an International Driving Permit and won't be accepted at a Korean rental desk. Get the permit in Japan before you depart — there's no way to obtain it after arrival — and make sure the English name on your license, permit, and passport all match, which saves time at the counter.

Journey stage: First 24 hours · Verified 2026-10-16 · Source United Nations Treaty Collection