Nicotine Pouches in South Korea

South Korea regulated nicotine pouches by widening what counts as tobacco, not by writing a pouch law.

The Tobacco Business Act defines tobacco in Article 2 paragraph 1. Until 2026 that definition required tobacco leaf as a raw material, so a pouch made with nicotine that never came from a leaf fell outside it — and outside the licensing, warning-label, advertising and tax duties that follow from being tobacco.

Act No. 21216 of 23 December 2025 changed the raw-material wording to tobacco leaf or nicotine. The manner-of-use wording already reached products suitable for sucking and chewing. A nicotine pouch therefore became tobacco in Korean law when the amendment took effect on 24 April 2026.

The Act itself sets no age of sale — that duty sits in youth-protection law, which we have not yet read. This page records no minimum age for Korea for that reason, and that is a gap in our review rather than a gap in Korean law.