Short answer. Not automatically, and not from the accident alone. Under Article 93(1) of the Road Traffic Act the provincial police commissioner may revoke a licence, or suspend it for up to one year, where a driver falls within one of the listed grounds, applying the standards set by ministerial ordinance. For a number of those grounds revocation is mandatory rather than discretionary. What decides your case is which ground is engaged, not how much damage was done.
What Korean law says
Article 93(1): where a person holding a driving licence falls under any of the listed grounds, the provincial police commissioner may revoke the licence, or suspend its effect within a period of up to one year, according to the standards prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The proviso lists a set of subparagraphs for which the licence must be revoked rather than merely suspended.
Article 54(1) and (2) are the underlying duties in any accident: stop immediately, take the necessary measures including rescuing casualties, give the injured party your details, and report to the police unless only the vehicle was damaged and the road has been made safe.
Road Traffic Act, Articles 93 and 54. Act No. 21246, in force from 1 July 2026. Which subparagraph applies, and whether revocation is mandatory, depends on the specific ground and on the standards in the ministerial ordinance.
What usually happens in practice
An ordinary accident with insurance and no aggravating feature does not by itself cost you the licence. The licence consequences cluster around specific conduct: drink-driving, leaving without taking measures, and accidents involving injury where a duty was breached. That is why two accidents with identical damage can produce completely different licence outcomes.
Because the administrative action runs on its own track, it can arrive before the criminal case is resolved, and it has its own review and appeal routes with their own deadlines. Treating the two as one process is a common and costly error.
For foreign residents the loss of a licence is sometimes the least of it. Where employment or residence depends on driving, the administrative timeline is the one to manage first.
What you should do next
- Find out which ground is being applied before arguing about the accident itself.
- Note the date of the administrative notice. Its deadlines are separate from the criminal case.
- Comply with Article 54 at the scene. Most severe licence outcomes follow a breach of it.
- If driving is essential to your work or status, raise that early rather than after a decision.
Related
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Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 12 September 2026.