Bringing Your Dog to Korea

This blog is going to be about bringing your dog to South Korea.

I brought my border collie mix with me to Yongin City, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea from the United States and in researching the restrictions of living with a dog, and bringing a dog, I found a lot of varying and conflicting information on the internet. My intention is to hopefully aid others in their decision to bring their pets with them, and what to expect.


As for quarantine regulations and importing dogs, the rules are changing as of December 1st, 2011. If you are arriving prior to that the ONLY documents you need (and all I needed were):

1. Health certificate from your vet stating that your dog is up to date (UTD) on all vaccines and fit to travel. Preferably signed by your vet.

2. Rabies vaccination certificate from your vet.

When your dog arrives in Korea (and mine flew in cargo under the plane via Asiana Airlines and United) you need to bring your dog through the quarantine section of the airport. The officer will take the documents (so bring extra copies just in case you need them for your own reference) and look at your passport. They make a few stamps to your importation claim form, and you're out the door!

The next thing you need to do is let your dog out of its crate to pee in the grassy parking strips, because it is a LONG flight. Jane was so fickle she wouldn't pee in the pet relief area in Seattle, so in total she held it in for around 24 hours.

Additionally, I recommend checking with your airline before flying out to see what their requirements are for flying dogs. The customer service agents for the airlines will ask you the dimensions of the crate and the weight of it with the dog's weight combined. YOU MUST ASK WHAT THE AIRLINES' CRATE REQUIREMENTS ARE FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL. I arrived at the airport at 3am with the crate I'd used for flying previously, and United made me buy their crate for $100 because it needed to have ventilation on all four sides for international flights. (Domestic flights are 3-sides of ventilation.) My flight left at 6am, and I spent 3 hours waiting around for a crate and watching confused airline agents fiddle around and call other people regarding the mess at hand.