.kr

Overview

• .kr is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• It is managed and sponsored by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), operated via KRNIC.
• Typical usage is by entities connected with South Korea; both Latin-alphabet domains and Hangul internationalized domain names (IDNs) are supported.
• Registration is processed via registration agents.

History

• Delegation/implementation date: 29 September 1986.
• From September 2006, it became possible to register domain names directly under .kr (the rollout included sunrise/landrush/general registration phases for priority rights and trademark protection).
  • Sunrise I (18 Sep – 20 Nov 2006): governmental bodies only.
  • Sunrise II (21 Nov 2006 – 27 Feb 2007): holders of certain existing 3rd-level .kr domains and eligible trademark holders.
  • Landrush (28 Mar – 1 Apr 2007): entities with an address in the territory.
  • General registration (from 19 Apr 2007): first-come, first-served.
• In 2011 a separate Hangul top-level domain (.한국, Punycode: xn--3e0b707e) was registered and became active to support domain names in the Korean script.
• Registered domain counts (KRNIC statistics, 2024-05-31):
  • .kr: 1,080,682 registered domains
  • .한국: 14,706 registered domains

Usage and Audience

• Primary audience: companies, organizations, public bodies, and individuals with a connection or local presence in South Korea.
• Common users and sectors:
  • Commercial businesses (.co.kr)
  • Network operators (.ne.kr)
  • Non-profits (.or.kr)
  • Research institutes (.re.kr)
  • Educational institutions (e.g., .ac.kr, .hs.kr, .ms.kr, .es.kr, .sc.kr, .kg.kr)
  • Government and military (.go.kr, .mil.kr)
  • Regional/municipal organizations or residents (region-specific SLDs such as .seoul, .busan, .gyeonggi, .jeju, etc.)
• Internationalized usage: Hangul IDNs are used at the second level for native-language domain names; these are fairly popular in South Korea.
• Domain hacks: .kr is sometimes used for domain-hack style short addresses (example: flic.kr used by Flickr).

Registration Rules

• Registry/operator: Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) / KRNIC.
• Local presence requirement: Registrants must have a postal address within the Republic of Korea; additional or varying restrictions apply depending on the chosen second-level domain.
• Structure:
  • Standard (Latin) registrations are commonly at the third level beneath restricted second-level domains (e.g., example.co.kr, example.or.kr).
  • Second-level registrations are available (policy evolution since 2006); Hangul IDNs may be registered at the second level (e.g., example.한국 / xn--3e0b707e).
• Common second-level domains (examples and intended uses):
  • .co.kr — commercial companies
  • .ne.kr — network-related organizations
  • .or.kr — non-profit organizations
  • .re.kr — research institutes
  • .pe.kr — individuals (natural persons)
  • .go.kr — Korean governmental authorities
  • .mil.kr — military authorities
  • .ac.kr, .hs.kr, .ms.kr, .es.kr, .sc.kr, .kg.kr — various educational levels and institutions
  • Region SLDs — seoul, busan, daegu, incheon, gwangju, daejeon, ulsan, gyeonggi, gangwon, chungbuk, chungnam, jeonbuk, jeonnam, gyeongbuk, gyeongnam, jeju (for organizations/individuals connected with those regions)
• Character and length rules (summarized):
  • Third-level (standard Latin-based): letters A–Z (case-insensitive), digits 0–9, and hyphens allowed.
    • Length: minimum 2 characters, maximum 63 characters.
    • Hyphen rules: cannot begin or end with a hyphen; consecutive hyphens are not allowed between the 3rd and 4th characters.
  • Second-level (including Hangul IDNs): Hangul characters allowed (2,350 Hangul syllables), plus Latin letters, digits and hyphens (except names composed only of digits and hyphens).
    • Length: generally minimum 3 and maximum 63 characters; if the name contains Hangul, minimum 2 and maximum 17 characters.
    • Hyphen rules: cannot begin or end with a hyphen; consecutive hyphens are restricted as for third-level names.
• Dispute and priority mechanisms: early registration/sunrise phases granted priority to governmental bodies, trademark holders and existing third-level domain holders when second-level registrations were opened.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Domain hack example: flic.kr (alternative short address for Flickr).
• New gTLDs registered by South Korean organizations or brands (examples of brand/industry interest in new TLDs): .doosan, .hyundai, .kia, .samsung, .lotte, and Hangul-brand gTLDs such as .닷넷 (xn--t60b56a) and .닷컴 (xn--mk1bu44c).

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       KR

organisation: Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA)
address:      9, Jinheung-gil
address:      Naju-si Jeollanam-do 58324
address:      Korea (the Republic of)

contact:      administrative
name:         Kilnam Chon
organisation: Korea Network Information Center (KRNIC)
address:      9, Jinheung-gil
address:      Naju-si Jeollanam-do 58324
address:      Korea (the Republic of)
phone:        +82 10 8581 3514
fax-no:       +82 61 820 2611
e-mail:       chonkn@gmail.com

contact:      technical
name:         KRNIC Tech Team Manager
organisation: Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA)
address:      9, Jinheung-gil
address:      Naju-si Jeollanam-do 58324
address:      Korea (the Republic of)
phone:        +82 61 820 1161
fax-no:       +82 61 820 2611
e-mail:       techc@kisa.or.kr

nserver:      B.DNS.KR 210.101.60.1
nserver:      C.DNS.KR 210.101.61.1
nserver:      D.DNS.KR 2001:dcc:4:0:0:0:0:1 203.83.159.1
nserver:      E.DNS.KR 2001:dcc:5:0:0:0:0:100 202.30.124.100
nserver:      F.DNS.KR 2001:dcc:6:0:0:0:0:1 210.101.62.1
nserver:      G.DNS.KR 2001:dc5:a:0:0:0:0:1 202.31.190.1
ds-rdata:     61615 8 2 ed570aadc88713ce2775fb8affb2ad782d056ea21d0677e147f2fb7bf54404da

whois:        whois.kr

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.or.kr/

created:      1986-09-29
changed:      2020-07-16
source:       IANA