Pet Transport from South Korea to the USA

The Korean government charges 10,000 won to export your dog. Asiana charges 290,000 won to fly it. That ratio tells you where the work is on this route, and it is not at the border.

South Korea is not on the CDC’s high-risk dog rabies list, and it is the rare East Asian origin that is also absent from the USDA APHIS screwworm-affected list. No titre test. No endorsed rabies certification. No CDC-registered facility reservation. No five-day screwworm inspection. A dog needs a CDC Dog Import Form receipt, a readable microchip, six months of age and good health on the day, and it can land at any American airport you like.

Two to three weeks is genuinely achievable for an adult microchipped dog. The only reason to start earlier is hold capacity on transpacific flights, which is small.

The complete American list for a Korean dog: submit the free CDC Dog Import Form online, print the receipt, arrive by air or land at any port, be at least six months old, carry a microchip a universal scanner can read, and look healthy to the officer. That is it.

Cats face no CDC requirement at all.

There are two undocumented conditions attached to foot-and-mouth precautions, since Korea is not on the APHIS foot-and-mouth-free list. Nothing needs certifying: the dog’s fur and bedding should be free of excessive dirt, hay or straw, it should be bathed on arrival, and it should be kept apart from livestock for five days. Most owners never notice.

The absence worth naming is the screwworm certificate. Origins across much of Asia and the Middle East need an official government vet to inspect within five days of shipment and certify the animal free of screwworm. Korea is not on that list, so nothing on this route depends on getting a government vet appointment in the final working week.

Korea’s side is a single appointment, made in person, on the day. You bring the animal to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency office at the departure airport with the vaccination records and any certificate the destination asks for. The officer checks documents, examines the animal, and issues the quarantine certificate. Then you go to the airline desk. The fee is 10,000 won per case.

There is an advance reservation service and almost nobody outside Korea seems to know about it. Pre-register the pet’s details online through QIA’s e-minwon system and the officer completes the clinical exam and issues the certificate without typing your paperwork in at the counter. On a busy morning at Incheon that difference is real.

The Incheon Terminal 1 office is on the third floor, central area, Room 3037, near check-in counter F and Exit 7. Its numbers are 032-740-2660 and 032-740-2661. Terminal 2 is on 032-740-2028. Opening hours and any daily cut-off are not published, and guidance varies between offices, so ring the number for your terminal a few days out and ask what time they stop taking cases.

Both flag carriers take pets on US routes, so neither Delta nor United is needed.

Asiana publishes its fees plainly, and there is a quiet surprise in them: the US shares a band with Europe and Oceania. A pet up to 32kg costs 290,000 won, and 32 to 45kg costs 590,000 won, whether it is going to New York or Frankfurt. Cabin carriage is capped at 7kg including the cage, in a container no more than 21cm high, 32cm wide and 45cm long, one pet per adult, and children may not travel with a cabin pet. Checked baggage runs to 45kg total with combined dimensions to 285cm, though it is not available on international A321 services. Minimum age 16 weeks, 48 hours’ notice, no sedatives.

Korean Air’s structure is similar: 7kg in the cabin, up to 32kg as checked baggage at the base fee with 33 to 45kg charged double, one cabin pet plus two checked per passenger, 48 hours’ notice. Its published band for long-haul is 300,000 won and the Americas sit in it, but the airline’s own page could not be opened when this was checked, so confirm the exact figure when you book.

One Korean Air condition is worth reading twice: its minimum age is eight weeks domestically and sixteen weeks as checked baggage, but six months for the United States. That is the CDC’s rule, reproduced in airline terms, and the check-in agent will apply it.