If you have a valid licence from your home country, you might be able to exchange this for a Korean one.

As this website is mainly aimed at Native English Speakers, I'll only mention the native English speaking countries that are allowed to exchange their licence:

• UK

• Australia

• Ireland

• New Zealand

• Canada

For the USA:

• Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho*, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tenessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

• *(For Oregon and Idaho, you must take a written exam)

1) Your original licence

2) Your passport

3) Your ARC card

4) 3 colour photos taken within the last 6 months (3.5 x 4.5 cm)

5) Apostilled copy of the licence *

6) Certificate of the Facts Concerning Entry and Exit (from your birth date until the present)*

7) Fee (8000원 for the licence, 10,000원 if you want the English version)  (If you need to do the written exam, that also costs 10,000원)

Obtaining the Apostilled copy of the licence will depend on where you are from. If you are from the UK, I recommend HagueApostille. It can be quite expensive!

You can get the Certificate of Facts Concerning Entry and Exit from any 주민센터. In Korean it's called the 출입국사실증명서. It needs to be from your date of birth until the present (the day before the day you are asking for it, if you understand what I mean). They'll ask who you are submitting it to - I'm not sure what category it was but if you say "운전면허시험장" they should choose the right category. (I used the certificate in the image for a different purpose so that category might not be right). It costs I think 1 or 2 thousand won. Note: some 주민센터s only accept cash, so have some prepared. Also, in case you are told you can apply for this online, this is NOT TRUE for foreigners. We have to go in person to get it. 

If you're not sure about the Korean the best way is to take a post-it with the information (see my example). Hopefully this should be enough to get you your certificate!

Once you have all your documents prepared head down to a driving test centre (운전면허시험장). In Busan, there are two. The 북부 centre is in 사상구. (부산 사상구 사상로367번길 35), and the 남부 centre is near to Kyungsung university (부산 남구 용호로 16). 

Try not to go too late in the day - I went at around 16:30 and I was told they only exchanged licences until 3pm. However, they exchanged mine for me anyway. 

You'll need to give them your original licence in order to get your Korean one. They'll keep it for 10 years and then destroy it. However, if you come back to the test centre with a plane ticket to your home country, you can have your licence returned to you (and you won't need to give them your Korean licence). 

Honestly I don't remember much about the process but it was rather simple and easy.  I assume there were some forms to fill out that you get from the driving test centre. I had my licence in my hand maybe 30 mins later. 

 If anyone can tell me about their more recent experience I'll add it here!