Korea won't issue new cargo-truck permits. So new drivers buy them — for ₩42 million.
South Korea stopped issuing new cargo-truck operating permits (화물자동차 운송사업 허가, the government license a freight carrier needs to operate commercially) in 2003. Twenty-three years later, the only way a new driver can enter the business is to buy an existing permit-plate (영업용 번호판, the yellow commercial number-plate that travels with the permit) on a gray market: ₩42.77 million for the cheapest 1-ton plate, up to ₩142.25 million for a heavy plate, on top of the truck itself (₩17.54M to ₩114.96M). The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI, the government freight think-tank) puts the average age of a new entrant at 47.6 years; 87 percent of operators run under jiib (지입, owner-driver paying monthly rent on a plate they do not own). KOTI projects a 26 percent driver shortfall by 2030 and 32 percent by 2035. The trade press already reports factories rearranging production schedules around truck availability rather than the other way round.
01The pain
A 35-year-old who wants to drive cargo in Korea cannot buy a license. He has to buy somebody else's. The country froze new cargo-truck operating permits (화물자동차 운송사업 허가, the government license for commercial freight) in 2003.2 The only way in now is to buy an existing permit-plate (영업용 번호판, the yellow commercial number-plate that travels with the permit) on a gray market: ₩42.77 million for the cheapest 1-ton plate, up to ₩142.25 million for a heavy plate.1 The truck itself adds ₩17.54 to ₩114.96 million.
The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI, the government freight think-tank) says 87 percent of cargo operators run on 지입 (jiib, owner-driver paying monthly rent on a plate they do not own). The average new entrant is now 47.6 years old.1 KOTI projects a 26 percent driver shortfall by 2030 and 32 percent by 2035; the trade press already reports factories rearranging production schedules around truck availability.2
The operator community discusses the trap as recurring scam threads. A May 2026 pinned guide on DC Inside's 화물차 마이너 갤러리 (the cargo-truck operator board on Korea's largest anonymous forum) walks newbies through how a permit-holding office sells an inflated truck and a fabricated route, then reposts the same ad days later. The same gallery has a thread asking whether anyone has seen a 1-ton driver in their 20s or 30s. Top reply: "I have never seen one."5
"Has anyone actually seen a 1-ton driver in their 20s or 30s? Top reply: I have never seen one."
— South Korea · DC Inside 화물차 마이너 갤러리 operator boardFurther reading
- 1 CVINFO (2024) — KOTI 2023 freight-market report: 2022 average cargo-truck driver age 56.4–66.2 years, average new-entrant age 47.6 (general 45.9, individual 48.7, delivery 48.7); market-entry cost ₩42.77 million (1-ton) to ₩142.25 million (heavy) including plate + truck; 87% of the market on 지입 structure; 50+ year-old share rose from 54.8% (2017) to 62.2% (2022): cvinfo.com
- 2 CVINFO (2024) — KOTI projects a 20%+ driver shortfall in 2025 and 30%+ by 2033; cargo permit-issuance system in place since 2004 (post-2003 freeze) flagged for reform; comparison to US Trucking Action Plan, UK visa easing, Japan "White Logistics" movement: cvinfo.com
- 3 CVINFO (2024) — KOTI report on aging in the cargo / charter-bus / village-bus markets; individual freight drivers averaging 54.72 years in 2022, 30%+ driver-population drop by 2062–2063; mandatory rest-period and driver-support recommendations: cvinfo.com
- 4 CVINFO (2024) — KOTI 2021 cargo-market annual report: 50+ year-olds 70.8% of cargo-truck drivers; individual-freight operators average 58.7 years; 70+ share 9.9% (individual), 21.8% (delivery): cvinfo.com
- 5 DC Inside 화물차 마이너 갤러리 (2024) — thread asking whether 20s or 30s 1-ton cargo drivers exist; nine distinct posters; top reply "I have never seen one"; same gallery carries a 30-month operator-density arc including a pinned 2026-05-01 entry-scam guide (thread #13698): dcinside.com
Operators discussing this
These are real Korean cargo-truck operators talking about this pain in their own words. They are the reason this page exists.
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«뉴비입장에선 그러려니 하고 차와 일자리를 구매하게 된다. … 사무실은 뉴비 덕분에 또 한탕해먹는데 성공했다. 며칠 뒤에 니가 봤던 그 광고는 또 올라오며 또 너 같은 뉴비가 걸려든다. 이것의 연속이다.»
"From a newbie's perspective you just shrug and buy the truck and the job. … The office made another killing off the newbie. A few days later the same ad goes back up and another newbie like you gets caught. It just repeats."
뉴비를 위한 사기당하는 과정 &피하는 법 그리고 어떻게 시작 할지에 대해 · DC Inside 화물차 마이너 갤러리 — Pinned 2026-05-01 entry-scam guide on DC Inside's cargo-truck minor gallery; 4 distinct posters in 13 days. The gallery sits at thread #13,786 by 2026-05-14 — a 30-month operator-density arc since the re-opened pinned (2024-11-30, #6851) and predecessor threads back to 2023-03 (#2092).
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«한번도 못본거같아. 1톤 콜바리 유튜버도 40~50대가 젊은축이고. 윙바디말고 1톤 카고로 탄력바치고 그물망 치는 2030 젊은기사 한번도 못봤다.»
"I've never seen one. Even 1-ton call-truck YouTubers — 40s and 50s are the young end. I have never seen a 20s or 30s driver running a 1-ton cargo with bungee cords and net the old way."
근데 20~30대 1톤 콜바리 기사 있어? · DC Inside 화물차 마이너 갤러리 — Operator-side framing of the generational gap; 9 distinct posters; recurring threads on plate prices, 지입 scams, and newbie entry every week inside the same gallery.
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«유류비지원 하에 한달 가져가는 돈이 980정도 됩니다. 거기 할부금 480 세금 10%공제하면 손에 쥐는건 더 적어요. … 할부금의 압박도 심해서, 무리하는 분들 많아요.»
"Even with fuel-cost reimbursement, monthly take-home is about ₩980,000. After the ₩480,000 vehicle-installment payment and the 10% tax withholding, what's left is even less. … The installment pressure is so heavy that a lot of drivers overdo it."
화물운송 관리직이 말하는 노동자의 현실 · Clien Park forum — Cargo-transport admin manager describing driver economics; 12 distinct posters. Clien Park carries a multi-year SMB-operator arc on logistics, construction-subcontract, gas-station and broker pains — the trucker-economics anchor sits here as operator-side voice on why drivers cannot pay down the vehicle.
02Who solves this today
Permit-plate marketplaces, 지입 brokerages, used commercial-truck dealers and cargo-load matching networks that publicly self-market in Korea and address the permit-and-plate entry barrier or the working life that follows it. Each homepage was checked live on the date of writing. Inclusion is not endorsement.
Listed providers publicly self-market in one of the wedges named above. Inclusion is not endorsement. Considered and dropped (each WebFetched on the date of writing): hwamulman.com, truckbada.com, truckno1.kr, 24ton.co.kr, cargopia.com, cargoman.kr, cargoflux.kr, oway.kr, 1cargo.co.kr, truckbiz.co.kr, unsuwang.com — DNS failed or SSL/TLS errors at fetch; truckin.kr — SSL wrong-version; truckshop.co.kr — HTTP 403; hanwhacapital.co.kr, lottecap.com, shinhancapital.com, hyundaicapital.com — SPA shells with no inspectable copy on the public homepage and no commercial-truck self-claim visible; kbcapital.co.kr Direct used-car loan — eligibility covers cargo vehicles under 5 tonnes but the product page self-markets as passenger-used-car (중고차) financing, not commercial-truck financing, so it is not listed here; kcar.com — direct used-car dealer, no commercial-truck or permit-plate self-claim captured; encar.com, kbchachacha.com, bobaedream.co.kr, heydealer.com — already cataloged on the South Korea 1-ton truck fuel cliff page (logistics/) under a different wedge; CJ Logistics, Hanjin, Lotte Global Logistics — they are the 3PLs who hire 지입 drivers, not providers selling solutions to them, and are sources/causes rather than vendors; the named press outlets (CVINFO, Klnews, GPKorea) and KOTI itself are sources, not solution providers; dstruckstory.com — editorial sister-site of 디젤트럭, already represented above; drivers.kr — anti-bot wall blocking inspection.
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