Everyone in Korea knows to slow down at the yellow school-zone signs. Fewer people know how much more a violation costs there, or when the higher amounts apply. The Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act keeps two separate tables for these zones — fines when a camera catches you (Annex 7) and penalty charges when police stop you (Annex 10). We read both line by line against the ordinary-road tables (Annexes 6 and 8).
1. The hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Decree article 88(4), proviso, and article 93(2) apply the school-zone tables only to violations in those 12 hours.
2. Stopping and parking cost three times as much. For a passenger car the fine rises from 40,000 won on an ordinary road to 120,000 won in a children's protection zone, and from 50,000 to 130,000 won for 2 hours or more in the same place.
3. Signal violations cost 130,000 won, and speeding 30,000 won more in every band. For a passenger car, the camera fine for ignoring a signal rises from 70,000 to 130,000 won, and speeding runs from 70,000 won (20 km/h or less over) to 160,000 won (more than 60 km/h over).
What a children's protection zone changes
Article 12(1) of the Road Traffic Act lets mayors and similar officials designate stretches of road around kindergartens, elementary and special schools, certain daycare centres and academies, foreign and alternative schools and similar places as children's protection zones and limit speed to 30 km/h or less. Paragraph (4) requires unmanned enforcement cameras to be installed as a priority at sites set by ministerial ordinance.
Stopping and parking are treated differently in the Act itself. Article 32 (prohibition of stopping and parking) lists banned places such as intersections and crosswalks and ends with item 8, “a children’s protection zone designated under article 12(1)”. The zone itself is a no-stopping, no-parking place — at any hour. What the hours decide is the amount.
Camera fines (passenger cars)
| Violation | Ordinary road (Annex 6) | School zone 8 a.m.–8 p.m. (Annex 7) |
|---|---|---|
| Signal or instruction | 70,000 won | 130,000 won |
| Speeding, over 60 km/h | 130,000 won | 160,000 won |
| Speeding, 40 to 60 km/h over | 100,000 won | 130,000 won |
| Speeding, 20 to 40 km/h over | 70,000 won | 100,000 won |
| Speeding, 20 km/h or less over | 40,000 won | 70,000 won |
| Stopping or parking | 40,000 won (2 hours+: 50,000) | 120,000 won (2 hours+: 130,000) |
“Passenger cars and the like” means cars and trucks of 4 tonnes or less (annex notes). Speeding bands are the margin over the limit. Vans, buses and motorcycles have their own amounts — a school-zone signal violation is 140,000 won for a van and 90,000 won for a motorcycle, for example. The party liable in the fines table is the “employer or similar” (Act article 160(3)).
In all four speeding bands the fine rises by exactly 30,000 won (40→70, 70→100, 100→130, 130→160 thousand). Only stopping and parking triple. “Just pulling over for a moment” outside a school is what goes up most.
Penalty charges when police stop you (passenger cars)
| Violation | Ordinary road (Annex 8) | School zone 8 a.m.–8 p.m. (Annex 10) |
|---|---|---|
| Signal or instruction | 60,000 won | 120,000 won |
| Speeding, over 60 km/h | 120,000 won | 150,000 won |
| Speeding, 40 to 60 km/h over | 90,000 won | 120,000 won |
| Speeding, 20 to 40 km/h over | 60,000 won | 90,000 won |
| Speeding, 20 km/h or less over | 30,000 won | 60,000 won |
| No-stopping, no-parking | 40,000 won | 120,000 won |
Penalty charges are imposed on the driver. Note 5 to Annex 10 caps the total at 200,000 won even with late surcharges for speeding more than 60 km/h over. Annex 10 also lists obstructing pedestrians at a crosswalk (120,000 won for a car) and obstructing pedestrian traffic (80,000 won) separately.
Senior and disabled protection zones
The same two annexes also cover stopping and parking in protection zones for older and disabled people: a camera fine of 80,000 won (90,000 won for 2 hours or more) and a penalty charge of 80,000 won for a passenger car. Signal and speeding amounts share one line for both kinds of zone, and the hours are again 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Checklist — passing a school
- ☐ Is it between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.? The condition is the same in holidays and at weekends (the articles do not distinguish days).
- ☐ The zone speed limit — usually 30 km/h, but the number on the sign governs.
- ☐ Dropping a child off — even stopping is banned inside the zone. Find a permitted spot outside it.
Questions that remain
What if the camera caught me at 9 p.m.?
The ordinary tables (Annexes 6 and 8) apply rather than the school-zone ones (Annexes 7 and 10). Under article 32 item 8, though, the zone remains a no-stopping, no-parking place at any hour.
Will I get a fine or a penalty charge?
Where the driver was not identified on the spot, as with a camera, the fines table applies; when police stop the driver, the penalty-charge table does. The amounts differ, so check the title of the notice.
What about penalty points?
We read only the amount tables. Penalty points are set in another annex of the Enforcement Rule, which we did not reproduce here.
Sources
- Road Traffic Act [in force 1 Jul 2026] [Act No. 21246] — original text (checked 29 September 2026). Source for article 12 (designation, 30 km/h, cameras) and article 32 item 8 (no stopping or parking in children’s protection zones).
- Enforcement Decree of the Road Traffic Act [in force 1 Aug 2026] [Presidential Decree No. 36114] — original text. Source for article 88(4), proviso, and article 93(2) (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.).
- Four annexes of the Decree — Annex 6, fines, Annex 7, protection-zone fines, Annex 8, penalty charges, Annex 10, protection-zone penalty charges. Source for all amounts and notes.
- Our own working. “30,000 won more” and “three times” come from comparing the tables.
Where to check further
- Your violations and payment — the National Police Agency’s traffic services portal (eFine).
- Where the zones are — your city, county or district website.
Written on 29 September 2026. Amounts are from the annexes as published by the National Law Information Center; the comparison and arithmetic are ours. Licence renewal for older drivers is in driving licences at 70 and 75, and e-scooter rules in e-scooters.
