South Korea청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act), Article 16, age and identity verification for youth-harmful media
청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act, Act No. 21277, most recently amended 2025-12-30, effective 2026-07-01) Art. 16; verification duty introduced by the amendment of Act No. 6479 (2001), renumbered by the 2011 whole amendment
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In force since 25 August 2001.
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
As of 15 July 2026.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Requires anyone who sells, rents, distributes or otherwise provides media designated as harmful to youth (Korean: 청소년유해매체물) to verify the recipient's age and identity, using in-person confirmation, a certified digital certificate, or mobile phone carrier authentication, and prohibits providing such media to anyone under 19. The verification duty dates to the 2001 amendment (Act No. 6479, effective 25 August 2001) and sits in Article 16 of the wholly amended Act. Commercial violations carry criminal penalties under Article 58.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalties
Up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30,000,000 Korean won for commercial provision to a minor without verification, plus per-violation administrative fines
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여성가족부) and the Youth Protection Committee, with criminal enforcement by police and prosecutors
What it reaches
Age threshold
19
Covered services
Media, publications and online content designated as harmful to youth (청소년유해매체물), including adult content sites
Verification methods
Gov ID, Digital ID, Third party service
When LexLint raises it
publishes_adult_content
Read the law
official consolidated text, Korea National Law Information Center (law.go.kr)
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.