Decoded Korea

When a cosmetic product is found to violate Korean cosmetic regulations, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) can order it off shelves. Every recall order ends up in a public registry, available through the government's open-data portal. We pulled the full registry through data.go.kr and read every case. It contains 30 active recall orders, and 18 of them came from just four companies. The count is small partly because of how the registry works. Each recall order stays visible for three years from the order date, so what we see is a rolling window rather than a lifetime tally. The earliest case dates to June 2023. The most recent is February 2026. Comparing 30 to other countries is tricky. EU RAPEX, for instance, lists products in market-surveillance categories that overlap with but do not match Korea's recall criteria. Four companies, 18 of 30 cases Four manufacturers account for more than half the registry: One OEM wet-wipe maker had eight separate wet-wipe pro...

In our earlier analysis of Korean sunscreens , we found that about 7 out of 10 carry SPF 50+. That covered UVB protection — the type that prevents sunburn. This time we looked at the other half of the equation: UVA protection, measured by the PA rating system. The result: in 2025, more than half of all Korean sunscreen products registered with the MFDS carry both SPF 50+ and PA++++. That is the highest possible rating in both categories. What PA means SPF measures protection against UVB rays — the ones that cause sunburn. PA measures protection against UVA rays — the ones that penetrate deeper into skin, cause photoaging, and contribute to skin cancer risk. The PA system was developed in Japan and adopted by Korea. It uses plus signs to indicate protection level: Rating UVA protection level PA+ Some PA++ Moderate PA+++ High PA++++ Extremely high PA++++ was introduced in 2013 as the highest grade. Not every market uses this system — the EU uses a UVA sea...

Most cosmetic products contain fragrance. A typical perfume or scented moisturizer uses dozens of individual fragrance compounds, blended together and listed on the label as a single word: "Parfum" or "Fragrance." That single word is about to get a lot more specific — in the EU, at least. EU Regulation 2023/1545, published in July 2023, expanded the list of fragrance allergens that must be individually named on cosmetic product labels from 24 to 80. New products placed on the EU market must comply by July 31, 2026. Existing products already on shelves have until July 31, 2028. We checked our 10-country regulatory database to see how many of these allergens are regulated elsewhere. What changed in the EU Before 2023, the EU required individual labeling for 24 fragrance allergens. If a product contained Linalool above 0.001% in a leave-on product (or 0.01% in a rinse-off product), the label had to say "Linalool" — not just "Parfum." Regulati...

Korea's chemical substance management system, K-REACH, tracks over 47,000 registered substances. Each one carries up to 9 regulatory flags — toxic, restricted, prohibited, priority management, CMR, accident preparedness, registration required, persistent organic pollutant, and Rotterdam Convention. Of those 47,000+, only 97 carry the "prohibited" flag. That is 0.2% of the database. These are substances where handling itself is banned in Korea — manufacturing, import, and use are all prohibited. We pulled the full list to see what Korea considers dangerous enough to ban entirely. What the 97 look like The 97 prohibited substances fall into a few recognizable groups. Banned pesticides — the largest group About half the list consists of pesticides that were widely used in agriculture before being phased out globally. Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Heptachlor, Chlordan, Endosulfan, Paraquat, Parathion — names that show up in environmental science textbooks. Most of these ar...

Vitamin C serums are sold at 10%, 15%, 20%, and sometimes 30% concentration. These are high numbers for an active ingredient. For comparison, the EU recently capped retinol at 0.3% in most cosmetics. So how is 20% vitamin C legal when 0.3% retinol is the EU limit? Because no country regulates L-Ascorbic Acid concentration in cosmetics. None of the 10 markets in our database — EU, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, ASEAN, Brazil, Argentina, the US, or Canada — has a limit. 76 forms of vitamin C Our database contains 76 ingredients with "Ascorbic" or "Ascorbyl" in their INCI names. Vitamin C in skincare is not a single ingredient — it is a family of compounds, each with different stability, potency, and skin penetration characteristics. The ones consumers encounter most often: Form INCI name Characteristics L-Ascorbic Acid Ascorbic Acid Most potent, least stable. Requires low pH. The form used in 10–20% serums MAP Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate Stable,...

"Sulfate-free" is printed on shampoo bottles, body washes, facial cleansers, and toothpaste. The marketing message is the same one behind "paraben-free" — these ingredients are bad, and this product does not have them. We checked the two most feared sulfates — Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) — across our 10-country regulatory database. Neither one has a single regulatory restriction in any country we track. The sulfates that are actually regulated? Most consumers have never heard of them. What sulfates are Sulfates are surfactants — they make products foam and help remove oil and dirt from skin and hair. SLS and SLES are the two most common sulfates in personal care products. SLS is the stronger cleanser; SLES is a milder, modified version. The concern about sulfates is that they can strip natural oils from skin and hair, causing dryness and irritation — especially for people with sensitive skin, eczema, or color-treated hair. Th...