Following a lawsuit filed by the City of San Francisco against leading food manufacturers of super-processed foods for knowingly selling food products linked to serious diseases, there has been a growing debate about the introduction of a so-called "sugar tax" in Korea. On January 28, President Lee Jae-Myung reignited the discussions by floating a proposal to tax sugar "like cigarettes" on social media, proposing to use the proceeds to fund public healthcare.
This is not the first time that Korea has weighed the possibility of a sugar tax. During the 21st National Assembly in 2021, lawmakers proposed a bill to partially amend the National Health Promotion Act to introduce a sugar tax. That bill, however, was eventually scrapped at the end of the legislative term in May 2024 due to concerns over inflation and tax resistance.
Following the President’s social media messages, on February 3, 2026, two separate bills were proposed by a coalition of lawmakers, including members from the President's ruling party as well as the opposition. These newly proposed bills would impose tax amounts based on sugar content, with proposed rates ranging from KRW 225 to 300 per liter, or KRW 1,000 to 28,000 per 100 liters. Unlike the past deadlock over inflation concerns, this latest proposal has not raised the same debate, and it appears that the bill has a strong coalition of support within the National Assembly, making it more likely that the proposed legislation will pass.
In line with the WHO's recommendations, more than 50 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, and some U.S. states, are implementing sugar taxes. For example, the United Kingdom introduced a "Tiered Tax" method based on sugar content to induce companies to voluntarily reformulate their products, while Mexico’s sugar tax, which saw a significant decrease in consumption of soda beverages, has become a benchmark for the National Assembly’s proposed bill.
For now, Korea’s proposed bill continues to be the subject of further legislative discussions, and the final bill, if passed, may end up in a very different form than the current draft. However, for the time being, it does appear that bill has strong momentum, and may lead to price increases for not only carbonated beverages and confectionery products, but also processed foods as a whole. Interested parties are advised to closely monitor the ongoing discussions, and are suggested to provide their opinions, if and when, there is an opportunity to submit them to the National Assembly.
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