Korea’s tattooists celebrate legalization, await next challenges
Tattoo artists across Korea rejoiced after the National Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Sept. 25 to decriminalize their industry, paving the way to their legitimization. "This marks a historic turning point that pulls Korean tattooing out of the shadows where it had remained for decades," Kim Tae-nam, operator of Sunrat Tattoo, told The Korea Times. "This change is not the achievement of any one individual, but a victory created collectively by every tattooist in Korea. The sweat shed out of sight, the principles we defended and the solidarity we showed one another made the impossible possible. The path was never easy ... but we never stopped. Holding on to each other, we walked to the end. And today, at the end of that long journey, we welcome a new beginning." Kim, who has been tattooing since 2004, founded Ink Bomb Tattoo Convention in 2009 and kept it running annually until 2014, when police showed up and shut down the event. Although tattoos have enjoyed near-mainstream visibility in Korea for at least a decade, tattooing has long been an underground industry, as the relevant law
Sep 29, 2025By Jon Dunbar
