South Korea
South Korea has required age and identity verification before providing media designated as harmful to youth since a 2001 amendment, a duty now housed in Article 16 of the Youth Protection Act (Korean: 청소년 보호법) and enforced with criminal penalties for commercial violations. Online game access for minors is separately managed under the Game Industry Promotion Act's (Korean: 게임산업진흥에 관한 법률) Game Time Selection System (Article 12-3), which lets a minor or the minor's legal guardian set the minor's own play-time limits; this became the sole statutory game-time control after the government's mandatory overnight shutdown system (the former Youth Protection Act Article 26) was repealed effective January 1, 2022. No dedicated social-media minimum-age or app-store age-verification statute is currently in force.
National jurisdiction. Reviewed 2026-07-15.
청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act), Article 16, age and identity verification for youth-harmful media
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.
- Citation
- 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
- Status
- In force
- Effective date
- 2001-08-25
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 19
- Verification methods
- gov id, digital id, third party service
- Covered services
- Media, publications and online content designated as harmful to youth (청소년유해매체물), including adult content sites
- 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
- Enforcement body
- Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여성가족부) and the Youth Protection Committee, with criminal enforcement by police and prosecutors
- Private right of action
- no
- Source
- 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
게임산업진흥에 관한 법률 (Game Industry Promotion Act), Article 12-3, Game Time Selection System
Lets a minor under 18 or the minor's legal guardian request that an online game provider restrict the minor's game access to specific hours or a set daily duration, and requires the game provider to comply with the requested restriction. Since the parallel mandatory overnight shutdown system was repealed effective January 1, 2022, this parental-choice system is the sole statutory game-time control for minors.
- Citation
- 게임산업진흥에 관한 법률 (Game Industry Promotion Act, Act No. 20485, amended 2024-10-22), Art. 12-3
- Status
- In force
- Effective date
- 2012-01-22
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 18
- Verification methods
- parental consent, self declaration
- Covered services
- Online games provided to users in South Korea
- Enforcement body
- Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (문화체육관광부)
- Private right of action
- no
- Source
- 게임산업진흥에 관한 법률 (Game Industry Promotion Act, Act No. 20485, amended 2024-10-22), Art. 12-3
청소년 보호법 (former) Article 26, mandatory online game curfew (shutdown system), repealed
Formerly barred online game providers from offering internet games to anyone under 16 between midnight and 6 a.m., commonly called the shutdown system or Cinderella law. The National Assembly passed the repeal on 2021-11-11, the repeal was promulgated as Act No. 18550 on 2021-12-07, and it took effect on 2022-01-01, unifying game-time control into the parental-choice Game Time Selection System under the Game Industry Promotion Act.
- Citation
- 청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act) former Art. 26, repealed by Act No. 18550 (promulgated 2021-12-07)
- Status
- Repealed
- Effective date
- 2011-11-20
- Applies to
- Private sector
- Age threshold
- 16
- Covered services
- Online games provided to users in South Korea
- Enforcement body
- Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여성가족부)
- Private right of action
- no
- Source
- 청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act) former Art. 26, repealed by Act No. 18550 (promulgated 2021-12-07)
Reviewed 2026-07-15. Confidence: medium. Fast-moving area, verify before relying. Not legal advice.