How do you read a Korean road-name address and building-number plate?
Separate the road name from the building number, then check the building plate, road sign, and any floor or room details at the destination.
How do you read a Korean road-name address and building-number plate?
Photo: Bgag, Wikimedia Commons file, CC0 1.0. Full-frame resize and JPEG recompression; no crop. This is not a photograph of the official Sejong-daero 209 formatting example below.
At your destination, look for the road name followed by the building number. Then compare those two items with the plate on the building. A number embedded in the road name, a room number after a comma, and a neighborhood in parentheses do different jobs. This is about reading the address on site, not choosing a map app or a place to stay.
Divide the address into parts
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s official guide uses this *printed example*: 서울특별시 종로구 세종대로 209, 1403호 (세종로).[1] It is an example of formatting, not a recommended or verified current destination.
• 서울특별시 종로구 identifies the city and district. Keep the administrative area with the road and number when checking an address.[1]
• 세종대로 209 consists of the road name 세종대로 and building number 209, separated by a space. A digit inside a road name belongs to that name: in the guide’s other example, 서울특별시 서초구 반포대로23길 6 (서초동), 반포대로23길 is the entire road name and 6 is the building number. Do not treat 23 as a separate building number.[1]
• , 1403호 (세종로) adds a unit/room number after the comma and a legal-neighborhood reference in parentheses. The parenthetical text is not another road name. Detailed addresses may specify a building block, floor, or room (동·층·호).[1]
The guide writes the characters of a road name together, leaves a space before the building number, and places a comma between that number and detailed address. So keep 반포대로23길 6 intact rather than splitting it at 23.[1]
Which sign should you look at?
A building-number plate carries the road name and building number. For practice with the Jongno example, the two items to compare would be 세종대로 and 209. The official sample does not verify where a corresponding plate stands today, what it looks like, or whether 1403호 is a currently used room. A plate identifies the building; check the floor or room in your visit instructions and inside the building separately.[1]
Photo: Narubaru7, Wikimedia Commons file, CC BY 4.0. The visible 정각로 29 is a different place from the Sejong-daero sample above.
A road-name sign along a road or at a junction does a different job. Depending on its type, it can show a road name, direction, and a range of base numbers along that road. Do not assume a number on that sign is the number of the particular building you need. Use it for direction, then check the building’s own number plate. The guide’s 중앙로 and 대한대로 diagrams illustrate sign-reading; they are not destinations proposed here.[1]
Photo: Wikiwater2020, Wikimedia Commons file, CC BY-SA 3.0. Full-frame resize and JPEG recompression; no crop. This is a range on that road, not directions to the 정각로 29 building in the preceding photo.
If the number matches but you are not finished
Check the city and district again, then look for a comma and any 동·층·호 in the full address. Those identify a location within the building, not a second building number. A legal neighborhood or apartment name in parentheses is a reference item; its absence from the building-number plate does not make the plate wrong.[1]
If you need to show the address to someone, keep the complete Korean text from your booking or visit instructions. You need not invent a Romanized spelling: point to the area, road name, building number, and any detailed address in order. The official guide also explains that English-formatted addresses may run from smaller to larger units, so do not match two language versions by word order alone.[1]
Three checks at the door: ① city/district ② road name + building number ③ block/floor/room, if supplied. The road sign helps you orient yourself; the building plate helps you identify the numbered building.[1]
Source
[1] Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Address Information Portal, “Introduction to Road-Name Addresses” (Korean; sections on notation, address signs, English notation, detailed addresses). Page body checked 2026-10-04.