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Korea moves to legalize tattooing by non-medical professionals

Published: 21 Aug. 2025, 11:29 Updated: 27 Aug. 2025, 17:08

Members of the Korea Tattoo Federation hold a press conference in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Aug. 20. [YONHAP]

Tattooing by non-medical professionals, banned in Korea for more than 30 years, is one step closer to legalization.

The National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday approved the Tattooist Act, which combines proposals from Reps. Park Ju-min, Yoon Sang-hyun and Kang Sun-woo. The measure sets licensing requirements and defines the scope of work for tattooists. If the bill passes the plenary session of the Health and Welfare Committee on Aug. 27, it will move to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and then a plenary session of the National Assembly for final approval.

The bill, if passed, would override a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that classified tattooing as a medical procedure. For decades, only doctors could legally perform tattoos.

Under the new tattooist act, non-medical professionals would be able to receive a state-issued license after passing a national exam. The government opted for licensing rather than certification, citing the potential health risks of tattooing.

Minors still cannot receive tattoos without parental consent, and tattooists can only operate in registered shops.

Tattoo shops must be owned and registered by licensed tattooists. Lawmakers chose registration over notification to strengthen oversight.

The bill would also ban tattoo removal by tattooists and requires training in hygiene and safety management.

The law will take effect two years after promulgation to allow time to set up the national exam and hygiene training.

Tattoos have become widespread in Korea. The National Evidence based Healthcare Collaborating Agency estimates that 13 million people have received tattoos, including 10 million who underwent semi-permanent cosmetic procedures such as eyebrow tattoos and 3 million with body tattoos.

The tattoo industry employs more than 300,000 people, but since the 1992 Supreme Court ruled that tattooing constituted a medical procedure, tattooing by non-medical professionals has carried the label of illegality for 33 years.

Rep. Park Ju-min of the Democratic Party holds a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Aug. 20, urging lawmakers to pass the tattooist act. [NEWS1]

But demand for tattoos has grown for aesthetic purposes, widening the gap between law and reality. The industry’s underground status has also fueled concerns about hygiene and safety.

Park, who chairs the Health and Welfare Committee, held a press conference earlier on Thursday to urge passage of the bill.

“For years, the law punished tattooists simply because they were not medical professionals,” he said. “There is no reason to delay this legislation any longer.”

The medical community had strongly opposed the change, arguing that tattooing involves invasive procedures that could threaten public health.

But growing recognition that most tattooing already occurs outside medical facilities shifted public opinion. A Health Ministry survey found only 1.4 percent of tattoo recipients received the procedure at a clinic or hospital.

President Lee Jae Myung also pledged to legalize tattooists during his 2022 campaign, arguing that "Korea was the only country that continued to classify nonmedical tattooing as a medical act."

Other major economies, including the United States, France and Britain, already regulate tattooing through separate licensing systems.

Japan, which long defined tattooing as a medical act, reversed course after a 2020 Supreme Court ruling and excluded tattooing equipment from its list of regulated medical devices in 2022.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NAM SOO-HYOUN [[email protected]]