1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, together with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, signed the Republic of Korea-Israel Agreement on the Mutual Recognition and Exchange of Driving Licenses in Jerusalem, Israel, on December 22.

* The agreement will take effect 60 days after the ROK receives a written notice from Israel on the completion of the necessary domestic procedure for its effectuation.

2. To date, as the ROK and Israel have not recognized the driver’s licenses issued by the other country, the ROK nationals residing in Israel have experienced the inconvenience of having to take the local driving test and renew their licenses every six months. From now on, the legal ROK residents in Israel with valid ROK-issued driver’s licenses can exchange them for licenses issued by Israel without further testing.

3. The ROK, the first Asian country for Israel to sign such agreement with, has, to date, concluded similar agreements with 19 countries. The ROK government will continue seeking such agreements with other countries to allow ROK nationals to drive in those countries without experiencing inconvenience.

* As of December 2014, the ROK mutually recognizes driver’s licenses with 133 countries, either under agreements (concluded with 19 countries and those with 15 countries in force) or in accordance with the principle of reciprocity (118 countries). 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation