Those Korean license-plate letters can tell you it’s a rental car.

The Korean syllable in the middle of a license plate is not always random. Under Korea’s plate rules, rental-business vehicles use the syllables 허 (heo), 하 (ha) or 호 (ho).

THREE RENTAL-CAR SYLLABLES

The transport ministry’s plate standard explicitly lists 허, 하 and 호 for rental-business vehicles. That means a plate can sometimes give away a rental car at a glance.

OTHER VEHICLES HAVE CODES TOO

Commercial transport vehicles use a separate set that includes 바, 사, 아, 자 and 배. One Hangul syllable can carry practical information about the vehicle’s use.

Sources & context

2026-09-18

law.go.kr ↗