SelectBNBs Research

Inside Korea's public accommodation register: 143,636 permit records, made searchable

Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety publishes permit records across eight accommodation categories. SelectBNBs retrieved the complete set through developer API access issued by Korea's Public Data Portal, built a public lookup in three languages, and published the aggregate findings below.

By Cameron Impastato, founder and curator of SelectBNBs

Published 31 August 2026Official source updated through 29 August 2026Cache retrieved 30 August 2026

Key findings

The register includes current and historical status records

143,636records across eight official datasets

90,771marked operating normally, 63.2%

51,950marked closed, 36.2%

The remaining 915 records comprise 478 temporarily closed records, 436 records across the cancelled, deregistered, expired, suspended or stopped statuses combined, and one excluded, deleted or transferred record.

These are status shares in one cumulative registry snapshot, not a business closure rate or a count of closures during a period.

These are government registry records, not a count of unique buildings, hosts, booking listings or currently available rooms.

Status snapshot

What the official status field shows

Chart showing 143,636 Korean accommodation permit records, including 90,771 operating normally, 51,950 closed and 915 in other statuses — Source: Ministry of the Interior and Safety LOCALDATA via SelectBNBs. Official source records updated through 29 August 2026.PNG SVG CSV

Eight datasets

Accommodation categories in the register

Conventional lodging and rural homestay records account for almost four in five records. The official system also separates categories that booking platforms often group together.

Aggregate government record counts by permit category
Permit category	All records	Operating normally	Closed	Other statuses
Lodging business	58,691	31,180	27,511	0
Rural homestay	55,419	36,618	18,709	92
Foreigner tourist city homestay	14,501	11,191	3,151	159
General campground	4,901	3,606	930	365
Tourist accommodation	4,329	3,453	715	161
Hanok experience business	3,164	2,590	538	36
Tourist pension	1,662	1,328	278	56
Auto campground	969	805	118	46

Public access

Why SelectBNBs built the lookup

Booking listings may show a short local permit number and a Korean registration block. The central LOCALDATA feed uses a separate management number, and direct API use requires Public Data Portal developer access.

SelectBNBs Verify lets a traveler paste a management number, registered name, road address, supported listing URL or full registration block. It returns the registered business, permit category, official status, address, relevant dates, source dataset and record timestamps in English, Traditional Chinese or Japanese.

The public JSON API and MCP tool expose the same evidence to software and AI assistants.

Check the work

Every published number has an inspectable source

Fixed aggregate snapshot, JSONThe exact figures used in this brief
Aggregate table, CSVCategory and status counts with all eight official dataset URLs
Current registry coverage, JSONLive count, source freshness and daily aggregate breakdown
Methodology and correctionsRetrieval, normalization, matching and interpretation rules

Interpretation boundary. An active result verifies the status of the registered business under the stated category as of the official source time. It does not by itself prove that an online listing is the same business, that the property is taking bookings today, or that it has passed a current safety inspection.