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Prohibited Items in Regulations

Letter-post Items
Items not fulfilling the conditions laid down in the Universal Postal Convention and the Regulations shall not be admitted.
It shall be prohibited to insert coins, bank notes, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers’ cheques, platinum, gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels or other valuable articles in uninsured letter-post items. However, if the national legislation of the countries of origin and destination permits this, such articles may be sent in a closed envelope as registered items. As defined in the latter part, for Korea as well, items can be admitted only within the scope of the related regulations.
Except defined otherwise in the Universal Postal Convention Letter-post Regulations, printed papers and items for the blind shall not bear any inscription or contain any Documents having the character of current and personal correspondence, and shall not contain any postage stamp of form of prepayment, whether cancelled or not, or any paper representing a monetary value.
The insertion of the articles referred to below shall be prohibited in letter-post items:
  • Narcotics and psychotropic substances;
  • Explosive or flammable materials, or other dangerous goods, with exceptions for perishable biological substances and radioactive materials defined in Article 44 of the Universal Postal Convention;
  • Obscene or immoral articles;
  • Other articles the importation or circulation of which is prohibited in the country of destination;
  • Live animals shall be prohibited in letter-post items. Exceptionally, the following shall be admitted in letter-post items other than insured items:
    • bees, leeches and silk-worms;
    • parasites and destroyers of noxious insects intended for the control of those insects and exchanges between officially recognized institutions.
Parcel-post items
The insertion of the articles mentioned below shall be prohibited in parcel-post items:
  • Articles which, by their nature or their packing, may expose officials to danger, or soil or damage other items or postal equipment;
  • Narcotics and psychotropic substances;
  • Documents having the character of current and personal correspondence exchanged between persons other than the sender and the addressee or persons living with them;
  • Live animals, with exceptions for live animals whose conveyance by post is authorized by the postal regulations and/or national legislations of the countries concerned;
  • Explosive or flammable materials, or other dangerous goods;
  • Radioactive materials;
  • Obscene or immoral articles;
  • Other articles the importation or circulation of which is prohibited in the country of destination;
It shall be prohibited to insert coins, bank notes, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, platinum, gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels or other valuable articles in uninsured parcel-post items as parcels destined to a country admitting insured parcel-post items. However, such prohibition shall not apply to a case where the exchange of parcel-post items between two countries which admit insured parcels is carried out only via transit of a country which does not admit insured items.
The following exceptions are acknowledged for the abovementioned prohibitions:
  • Prohibitions on narcotics and psychotropic substances shall not apply for items destined to countries admitting such items for a medical or scientific purpose.
  • Parcels containing radioactive substances are allowed to convey as postal item under the condition of pre-authorization by competent authorities. Parcels containing radioactive substances can only accepted as postal item, provided that all designated operators concerned to the conveyance of such items. In such case, contents and packing of the parcels shall abide by special exemption regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency for specific articles. Designated operators may agree to bilaterally or unilaterally accept parcels containing such substances. In this case, radioactive materials, subject to the payment of relevant air surcharge, shall be conveyed via the fastest (air) route. Parcels containing radioactive substances shall be sent only by a sender legitimately authorized. Designated operators may designate special post offices that can accept parcels containing radioactive substances.

For more details on mailing, customs clearance, tracking, terms & conditions by country, delivery, please visit our EMS webpage ( http://ems.epost.go.kr ) or contact our call center (+82) 1588 1300.