Korea's new regulation allowing pets in restaurants backfires

A dog is tied up outside a restaurant in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Rob Nichols had rarely gone anywhere without his dog Luna — a companion for more than one-third of his 15 years in Korea.

“I used to take my dog with me everywhere,” the 44-year-old Briton told The Korea Times. “I would visit perhaps three to five establishments every day with Luna.”

Since last month, however, Nichols finds himself increasingly housebound. "I can no longer take her to any of the old establishments because the owners are worried about getting fined," he said. "I don't want to leave Luna alone at home while I go out, so I just stay home."

The irony is hard to miss. Nichols' experience is a direct consequence of a new regulation that was meant to make things easier — one meant to formally legalize pet entry into dining and drinking establishments for the first time.

Before the rules under the Food Sanitation Act took effect last month, pets were technically banned from such venues, yet many owners quietly looked the other way. Now, faced with formal compliance requirements and penalties of up to a 20-day operations suspension for repeat violations, many have simply closed their doors to animals altogether.

To qualify as pet-friendly, businesses must meet a range of standards, including placing physical barriers between animals and food preparation areas, offering dedicated pet feeding dishes and waste bins and requiring vaccination checks for animals entering the premises.

Joseph Jo, 37, a Korean dog owner of four years, said outings with his pet have grown harder since the regulation took effect.

“My dog has severe separation anxiety, so I always took him out with me,” Jo said. “But since the new rules came in, even places that used to welcome us have started turning us away.”

He said business owners frequently cited a lack of space for dedicated pet areas, often leaving him to linger outside with his dog. “If the weather is nice, it's manageable, but when the rules first took effect, it was still cold and staying outside was often uncomfortable.”

Geoffrey G and his dog Cappuccino at a local bar in Yongsan District, central Seoul, in September 2025. Courtesy of Geoffrey G

Geoffrey G, an American English professor who has lived in Yongsan District in central Seoul for 15 years, said nearly every business in his neighborhood had been pet-friendly before the law. That has since reversed.

“By making this law, they've done the opposite of making it easier [for pet owners and businesses to bring animals in],” the 43-year-old said, adding that several establishments have since banned pets altogether, fearing reports to authorities and the fines and suspensions that follow.

“The rules and restrictions are so difficult for a small business to implement.”

For many small venues, that bar is difficult to clear. Nell Fox, an American who has lived in Korea for 18 years and invested in a bar in Yongsan District last year, knows that firsthand.

“It's become much more difficult because many of the new requirements simply aren't practical for small bars,” Fox said.

She added that most small establishments in her neighborhood simply lack the space for mandated pet-only areas with room for carriers or pet strollers — and that for many, the layout alone makes compliance unrealistic regardless of cost.

“Luckily a lot of our patrons have been understanding, but they have been attending less because they want to spend time with their dogs,” Fox said. “With warmer weather approaching, we’re especially concerned this could impact business, since people tend to go out more and many would normally bring their dogs with them.”

Oh Yu-kyung, right, commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, attends a roundtable on pet-friendly restaurant regulations in Gangnam District, Seoul, March 18. Yonhap

Not all owners, however, view the new framework negatively.

Lim Myoung-jin, 53, who runs a bar in Mapo District, had been allowing pets for about five years before the law passed — always with some anxiety.

“The news that it would be legalized was very welcome, because there was always the risk of being reported before the rules were introduced,” Lim said.

Preparing her bar to meet the new standards took about a week, with the only real hurdle being a kitchen passageway where a full partition was not feasible. The only added expense was food covers.

“Regulars have grown more comfortable since the change and new customers are trickling in,” Lim said, though she called the vaccination check requirement unrealistic.

Her concern was echoed at a government policy meeting on pet-related regulations on March 30, attended by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok.

“Rabies — the most cited zoonotic concern — spreads through bites and has not been reported domestically in over 20 years,” veterinarian Seol Chae-hyun said at the meeting. “Holding restaurant owners responsible for verifying vaccination records is hard to make sense of.”

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety told The Korea Times it was aware that early implementation had driven some operators to ban pets outright, and said it would continue refining the system based on feedback from the field.

It added that a range of support measures are available, including pre-opening consultations for businesses seeking pet-friendly certification and financial assistance through local government funds.