Your 249-Gram Drone Is Legal in Korea. Flying It Over Seoul Is Not.

You can carry a sub-250-gram drone into Korea, unregistered and unlicensed, and fly it legally. What you cannot do is take it up over central Seoul — and the weight of the aircraft has nothing to do with why.

Quick answer: Korea's rules run on two separate tracks. Weight decides whether you must register the aircraft and hold a pilot certificate. Airspace decides whether you need flight approval — and in a control zone, a prohibited area, or above 150 m, every drone needs approval regardless of weight. Most of central Seoul sits inside prohibited area P-73. Flying there without approval carries an administrative fine of up to ₩3 million. Verified 2026-08-21 against the Aviation Safety Act and its decrees.

Three weights, three different obligations

Korean law splits small drones at 250 grams, 2 kilograms and 25 kilograms. Each line switches on a different requirement, and none of them is about where you fly.

Drone rules · Korea
Weight decides the paperwork.
Airspace decides whether you fly at all.
Obligations for unmanned powered aircraft under the Aviation Safety Act and its decrees. Approval in a control zone, a prohibited area or above 150 m applies at every weight.
0 g 250 g 2 kg 25 kg Pilot certificate REQUIRED ABOVE 250 g Aircraft registration REQUIRED ABOVE 2 kg Approval, restricted airspace REQUIRED ABOVE 25 kg Airspace approval REQUIRED AT EVERY WEIGHT — NO EXEMPTION Source: Aviation Safety Act arts. 127, 166; Enforcement Decree art. 24; Enforcement Rule arts. 306, 308, 310. Verified 2026-08-21.
Weights are maximum take-off weight; the 250 g figure includes fuel. The scale is illustrative, not linear. The bottom row is the rule most visitors miss: in prohibited airspace such as Seoul's P-73, the weight exemptions do not apply.

250 g. A pilot certificate is required for unmanned powered aircraft, except those with a maximum take-off weight of 250 grams or less including fuel (Enforcement Rule of the Aviation Safety Act, Article 306(1)4(a)). This is why so many travel drones are built to 249 g.

2 kg. Aircraft registration is required, except for unmanned powered aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 2 kilograms or less (Enforcement Decree of the Aviation Safety Act, Article 24, subparagraph 5). Under 2 kg, there is nothing to register.

25 kg. Flight approval for restricted airspace is waived for unmanned powered aircraft at or below 25 kilograms maximum take-off weight (Enforcement Rule, Article 308(1)4(a)). Almost every consumer drone sits inside this exemption — which is exactly what misleads people.

The exemption that does not apply where you want to fly

Article 127(3) of the Aviation Safety Act sits above the weight table. Even when a drone is not otherwise subject to the approval requirement, approval is still required to fly:

  • above the altitude prescribed by ministerial rule, and
  • in the airspace prescribed by ministerial rule among controlled, restricted and alert areas.

The Enforcement Rule fills in both. The altitude is 150 metres — measured from the top of the tallest obstacle within a 150 m horizontal radius in areas where people or buildings are dense, and from the ground, water or object below elsewhere (Article 308(5)). The airspace is control zones and prohibited areas (Article 308(6)). Neither clause mentions weight.

So the 25 kg exemption buys you nothing over a control zone or a prohibited area. A 249-gram drone and a 24-kilogram drone need the same piece of paper there.

Seoul is a prohibited area

Central Seoul lies inside P-73, a prohibited airspace. The Seoul Metropolitan Government published a notice on 12 March 2026 warning that, since the most recent change to P-73, cases of unauthorised ultralight flight inside the prohibited zone have risen sharply, and directing pilots to the operator obligations published on the national drone information portal.

P-73's boundary is not a neat circle and it has been redrawn before, so the only reliable check is the official airspace map. Do that before you pack, not from the riverbank.

What you may not do anywhere in Korea

Article 310(1) of the Enforcement Rule lists the operator obligations. For unmanned aircraft, the ones that catch visitors are:

  • dropping objects that may endanger people or property;
  • flying over residential or commercial areas, or other places where people are gathered, in a manner that may endanger people or property;
  • flying close to buildings in a built-up area in a manner that risks collision;
  • flying in controlled, restricted or alert airspace without approval under Article 127 — with a carve-out for drones of 25 kg or less flying below 150 m outside control zones and prohibited areas;
  • flying at night, between sunset and sunrise.

The night rule is the one people trip over. Seoul photographs best after dark, and that is precisely the window the rule closes.

What it costs to be wrong

The penalties are administrative fines, set in Article 166 of the Act:

  • Flying without the approval required by Article 127(3) — up to ₩3 million (Article 166(3)5).
  • Flying in breach of the operator obligations — up to ₩3 million (Article 166(3)6).
  • Flying without a pilot certificate where one is required — up to ₩4 million (Article 166(2)).

These are ceilings, not tariffs. What is actually imposed in a given case is set administratively, and we have not verified how that schedule is applied in practice.

How approval is requested

Applications go to the regional aviation administration, the Ministry of National Defense, or the air traffic service provider, depending on the airspace (Enforcement Rule, Article 308(2)). The government's single window for drone filings is the Drone One-Stop civil service portal at drone.onestop.go.kr, which handles registration, flight approval and aerial photography permits.

What this guide does not claim

We have not verified the exact coordinates of P-73's current boundary, whether a short-term visitor can obtain a Korean pilot certificate, or how enforcement is carried out in practice. Where the answer turns on your specific flight, the airspace map and the One-Stop portal are the authorities, not this page.

Sources

All provisions read in the original on the National Law Information Center, 21 August 2026.

  • Aviation Safety Act, Articles 127 and 166 — law.go.kr
  • Enforcement Decree of the Aviation Safety Act, Article 24 — law.go.kr
  • Enforcement Rule of the Aviation Safety Act, Articles 306, 308 and 310 — law.go.kr
  • Seoul Metropolitan Government notice on P-73 prohibited airspace, 12 March 2026 — news.seoul.go.kr/gov/archives/544982 — accessed 21 August 2026

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