Anyone studying drone regulation eventually starts comparing systems across borders, and the United States' Part 107 framework comes up more often than most. It is frequently cited because it gathers the rules for small commercial unmanned aircraft into a single coherent structure rather than scattering them across exemptions. The specific thresholds, requirements and current status of any overseas rule change frequently, so nothing below should be read as a statement of what the rules are today. What follows is a comparison of structures and underlying logic. If you are planning an actual operation, check the current official material published by the relevant civil aviation authority.
What Part 107 sets out to regulate
Part 107 is, broadly, the body of rules that applies when a small unmanned aircraft below a defined weight is flown for commercial purposes. The structure asks the person at the controls to hold a remote pilot certificate, asks the aircraft to be registered, and asks the flight to stay inside defined operating limits.
- A certificate issued to the individual pilot on the basis of a knowledge test
- Aircraft registration and remote identification obligations
- Operating limits — visual line of sight, ceilings on altitude and speed, and restrictions on night flight and flight over people
- Flights outside those limits handled through a separate waiver or authorisation process
The underlying idea is to define a safe envelope in advance, and to open anything beyond that envelope only through individual review.
Why the axis is purpose rather than weight
Part 107 starts from the person and the intent, not from the machine. The same aircraft flown as a hobby and flown for paid photography are treated as carrying different degrees of social responsibility, so certification and record-keeping obligations attach to the commercial act itself. One practical consequence is that new aircraft designs do not force the rulebook to be rewritten, because the regulation is attached to conduct rather than to a specification sheet. The trade-off is that the intuition most engineers share — that a larger, heavier aircraft carries proportionally larger kinetic risk — is captured less directly.
How Korea differs
Korea takes very nearly the opposite starting point. Remote pilot certification for ultralight unmanned aircraft is divided into four classes by the aircraft's maximum take-off weight (MTOW). The certifying body is the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS), which administers the examinations and maintains the certificate records.
- Class 1: MTOW above 25kg, up to 150kg empty weight — 20 hours of logged flight experience
- Class 2: above 7kg up to 25kg — 10 hours of logged flight experience
- Class 3: above 2kg up to 7kg — 6 hours of logged flight experience
- Class 4: above 250g up to 2kg — completion of an online course, with no practical flight test
Device registration blends both axes. An aircraft flown commercially must be registered regardless of weight, while a non-commercial aircraft is registered once it exceeds 2kg MTOW. Registration and most subsequent applications are filed through the Drone One-Stop Civil Service operated under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Put simply: where the US framework asks first who is flying and why, the Korean framework asks first what aircraft is being flown and in which airspace. A foreign operator arriving in Korea holding a national remote pilot certificate cannot map that credential across directly. The first question is which weight band the aircraft falls into, and the second is what the airspace over the intended site is classified as.
Where the systems converge: BVLOS and night
The most revealing comparison axis is beyond visual line of sight. Despite starting from entirely different premises, the three major systems arrive at the same conclusion — BVLOS and night flight sit outside the ordinary envelope and require individual review. The US handles it through waivers, the European EASA framework routes it into its risk-assessed middle category, and Korea calls it special flight approval.
The Korean version is specific enough to plan against. Night flight and BVLOS flight are both subject to special flight approval, applied for to the Regional Aviation Administration. The stated processing period is 30 days, extendable to 90 days in special circumstances, and the application goes through a conformity review against the national safety standard governing special unmanned aircraft flight. Separately, flight above 150m above ground level, inside controlled airspace, or inside prohibited airspace requires flight approval, which is a distinct filing.
One further detail surprises almost every operator arriving from abroad: in Korea, aerial photography permission is handled separately by the Ministry of National Defense, entirely distinct from any aviation approval. Holding valid flight approval does not, by itself, grant permission to record imagery. Teams that budget only for the aviation-side paperwork and discover the defence-side permit late routinely lose their shooting window. Commercial operators should also note that liability insurance is mandatory for business use, at a minimum of 150 million won bodily injury and 20 million won property damage cover.
What operators can take from the comparison
The value of comparing regulatory systems is not to decide which country regulates better. It is to read what each regulator is actually worried about. Visual line of sight, flight over populated areas and night operation appear in every system regardless of jurisdiction, which tells you these three are the core variables in accident risk — and that a safety case built around them will travel.
Korean penalties are not nominal. Flying without required flight approval, or exceeding 150m, can draw an administrative fine of up to 3 million won, and unauthorised flight in restricted airspace can draw a criminal fine of up to 5 million won. Three habits carry across every system:
- A documented pre-flight check covering airspace classification, weather and population density on the ground beneath the route
- A written contingency plan for loss of command link and for low-battery states, agreed before the crew arrives on site
- Advance confirmation of which additional permits each mission type requires, and how long each one takes to process
Studying overseas frameworks is useful, but any flight conducted in Korea follows Korean rules, and the way those become second nature is structured training and repeated practical flying. Light Beyond Drones, based in Daejeon, runs remote pilot certification courses alongside industrial drone solutions. If you are working out which class to start from and how to carry that into field work, we would be glad to map the route out with you in a consultation.
Sources
The Korean regulatory details in this article are based on the government and public-institution material below. Rules in other countries differ by jurisdiction and change frequently, so please also check the current official publications of the relevant civil aviation authority.
- Korea Ministry of Government Legislation (Easy Law) – Remote Pilot Certification
- Korea Ministry of Government Legislation (Easy Law) – Drone Flight Approval
- Korea Ministry of Government Legislation (Easy Law) – Special Flight Approval
- Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS) – National Qualification Examinations
