Korean driver's license: probably not

My buddy Charles had an interesting suggestion regarding the driver's-license-renewal issue: get a Korean driver's license, then hold off on getting an international permit until I really need it because international permits are good for only one year. It turns out, though (see this source and this one for starters), that I'd probably need to take a knowledge test to get the Korean driver's license. Since my Korean's not good enough to take the test in Korean, I'd have to go for the English option. This source says you have to score at least 32 right out of 40 multiple-choice questions. There are sample tests available online, as well as an app for practicing, but I really had trouble understanding some of the weird, unnatural English (Redditors, however, assure me the test is super-easy and common sense... maybe they Zenned their way through the poor English). There's also a behind-the-wheel test and possibly also a health test. Though more expensive, it strikes me as simpler just to go to the States to renew my US license. Since the only place I'd be driving is in the States, a US license is all I need; no reason to worry about international permits, and I'd be good for seven years.

So assuming I've filled out all of my documentation correctly and have provided all of the right materials, I ought to get a new passport in a couple of months. Because it's a new passport with a different passport number, this means I have to root through all of the services where I've left passport data and enter the new passport number. I'll also need to obtain a new PCC number (Korean Customs clearance code) for places like iHerb, Coupang, and maybe also Amazon (although Amazon wants a PCC number only if you're a Korean citizen, which I'm not). After I get all of that squared away,* I will then go to the States and renew my US/Virginia driver's license.

But we're not done: at some point either later this year or sometime next year, assuming my boss's startup actually starts up, I'll be moving south to Suwon, which sits just below Seoul and is connected to the big city by subway and maybe by bus/train. Once I'm in my new residence, I have to update my mailing address for all of the services that mail me things—so again, iHerb, Coupang, Amazon, etc. Another wrinkle: even if the boss's startup starts up in just a month or two (not likely), I need to stay in my current place until I get my F4 visa renewed. The current expiration date for the visa is late October of this year, based on my current passport's expiration date. The earliest I can renew the F4 is four months prior to expiration, so late June. With the passport fresh for ten years, I can then re-renew my F4 visa for another three years. (My driver's license, as I wrote above, will be good for seven years. The different validity periods are annoying.) Also: once I'm in Suwon, I'll need to visit the local district office to update my residential address for my F4. Always one more thing to do.

This is a lot of shit to juggle mentally for a guy who's had his brains scrambled by a stroke and a heart attack. Luckily, these problems are all coming at me slowly. And after this year, I ought to be squared away for the next little while. Fingers and tentacles crossed.

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*Logically, there's no need to square all of this away first, but I may as well do it first, while the problem is still right in front of my nose.