How To Figure Out Your Original 13 Digit Korean ID Number.

If you don’t know your original Korean ID number, this trick works if you arrived to your Western country of adoption in the 1980s or later. We are not totally sure if early 1980s Travel Certifcates (TCs) / “Passports” have this info, but mid 1980s and later TCs / “Passports” definitely do.

*So far we have never seen a 1970s or prior TC or “Passport” with the relevant 7 digit number required to figure out your original 13 digit Korean ID number.

If you have your original Korean Travel Certificate (it may alternately say “Travel Certificate” or “Passport” on the cover) and you arrived to your Western country of adoption around the 1980s or later, look for either a 7 digit number with no associated letters to the immediate right of your birthdate, or alternately a 7 digit “PERSONAL” number on the same page as your photo. 

If you add your 6 digit birthdate  in the format of: YY / MM / DD in FRONT of this 7 digit number, you get your 13 digit “Korean ID / Registration Number”. 

For example, let’s say you are born January 2nd, 1985. Your 7 digit number is 1234567. 

So your Korean ID / Registration number would be:

8501021234567 

You can take copies of ALL pages of your original Korean Travel Certificate to either a Gucheong Center in Korea or a Korean Consulate in your Western country of adoption, and ask for these 2 documents:

Household Registration (새대별주민등록표) and Hojuk (호적).

The Hojuk (호적) is usually just your typical Orphan Hojuk which makes the Adoptee the “head” of the family household, and frequently lists “Han Yang” (Seoul) as the city of origin, which is just a form of orphanization. So it’s probably not super exciting to get this document, but feel free to try if you like.

The same is likely true for the Household Registration (새대별주민등록표) — there is not likely too much of interest here, but one never knows — peoples’ experiences may vary. So you can try to obtain both of these documents if you like — just note we consider this to be “recreational” document hunting, and not really all that useful regarding birth family search.

We think it would be best to do this in Korea at a Gucheong Center (구청) in Korea, but you can also try this at a Korean consulate in your Western country of adoption.

No matter where you go — Gucheong Center (구청) in Korea or a Korean consulate in your Western country of adoption — be sure to take your CURRENT passport and at least COPIES of every page of your original Korean Travel Certificate or “Passport”.