South Korea countries/kr.yaml
Up to five years for use, enforced even for use abroad by citizens. Sale carries at least a year, import or export life or at least five years, and profit-making or habitual import can bring death. A few cannabinoid medicines can be imported through a state agency.
label Possession, acquisition, transport or storage · treatment criminal · term Possession · prison 5 years · fine 50000000 · note Simple possession; prison or a fine. Import/export is a separate offence
Cultivation falls under the same up-to-five-year provision, with heavier penalties when for sale.[@nca2026]
kt2nca2026
label CultivationPersonal cultivation · treatment criminal · term Cultivation · prison 5 years · fine 50000000 · note Same ceiling; heavier when, label Cultivation for sale, export or manufacture · treatment criminal · term Commercial cultivation · prison min 1 year
Strict and actively enforced, with customs screening, hair testing and prosecutions of celebrities making regular headlines.[@kt1] First offenders often receive suspended sentences.[@spo25]
kt1, slgspo25
Supplying or selling is punished more severely, with a minimum of one year.[@nca2026]
slgnca2026
label SupplySale, manufacture or salebrokerage · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 1 year · note Minimum one year; punished more severely than possessionHabitual offenders face at least three years, label Import or export · treatment criminal · term Import or export · prison min 5 years · note Life imprisonment or at least five years, label Profit-making or habitual import or export · treatment criminal · term Aggravated import · death true · prison min 10 years · note Death or life imprisonment also available, label Giving cannabis to a minor · treatment criminal · term Supply to a minor · prison min 2 years
Smoking or ingesting cannabis is itself an offence with up to five years. Korean criminal … where it is legal can be prosecuted on return, and hair tests can detect use months later.[@kt1,filter]
A patient may apply through the state orphan-drug centre to import a small number of forei … ment. The route requires medical records, a doctor's opinion and approval for each import.[@mfds]
standardstrict
HempNo national hemp THC threshold and no general hemp regime. Cannabis is controlled even when grown under permit for fibre andor seed in designated areas; the 0. Since July 2020 two districts of3% line exists only in the Andong form a regulation-free zone where hemp with less than 0, which was extended to 2027.3% THC may be grown and[@slg,asiae20,andong24] The Supreme Court held in May 2025 that CBD, CBN and THC are "cannabis" even when extracted asfrom seeds, roots or mature stalks, so the seed and stalk exclusions do not create a pharmaceutical raw materialconsumer CBD route.[@slg,asiae20scourt25]
slg, asiae20, andong24, scourt25
medicalhemp
Hemp is grown under permit for fibre and seed in designated areas. Since July 2020 two districts of, and the Andong form a regulation-free zone whereallows hemp with less thanbelow 0.3% THC may be grown andfor CBD extractedextraction as a pharmaceutical raw material.[@slg,asiae20] No otherdomestic medical-cannabis production is licensed; medicines are imported.[@mfds] A GMP CBD API plant broke ground in Andong in December 2025.[@gmp25]
slg, asiae20, mfds, gmp25
In November 2018 South Korea became the first East Asian country to allowallows imported cannabis-based medicines, not domestic production or general prescribing. The MFDS approves the patient and the import, and the Korea Orphan and Essential Drug Center supplies the medicine; Epidiolex, Sativex, Marinol, Canemes and Cesamet are formally available, but only a handful of approved pharmaceuticalsEpidiolex was actually distributed in 2024.[@mfds,spo25] Since April 2021 Epidiolex has been reimbursed for conditions such as severeDravet and Lennox–Gastaut syndromes after five other epilepsy, imported patient by patient through a state orphan-drug centre drugs fail. No consumer products[@nhi21] About 300 prescriptions a month were reported in early 2026, CBD included, unless approved asand a medicineplan to widen manufacturing was halted in October 2025.[@medical26,halt25]
mfds, slgspo25, filternhi21, kt2medical26, halt25
A drug conviction carries heavy social stigma, and ends careers, and leads.[@slg] A foreigner sentenced to imprisonment faces deportation for foreignersunder the Immigration Act and a five-year entry ban; a fine may still lead to visa cancellation or departure.[@immigration]
slg, immigration
The prosecution service recorded 272,611 people caught for drug offences of all kinds459 cannabis offenders in 20232025, against 18down 25.9% from 3,395317 in 20222024 and 4, the first time the figure passed 20085 in 2023.[@spo25] The 2025 group included 1,000016 users, 503 sellers, 335 smugglers, 230 possessors and 77 cultivators; 1,477 were teenagers955 cases and 3,151 foreigners237 people detained. The published report did not give[@spo25] All drug offenders numbered 23,403 in 2025, and smuggling offenders reached a figure for cannabis. An older count put cannabis at aboutrecord 1% of the 11,916 drug arrests of 2015772.[@spo25]
kt24, wikispo25
openunclear
The Narcotics Control Act's definition of marijuana expressly excludes "the seeds and root … , and only a licensed cultivator may grow it, for the purpose of collecting fibre or seed.[@nca]
No cannabis clubs are known, and the law leaves no room for them: growing cannabis and supplying it to another person are both prohibited.[@kt2,slg]
Bringing or mailing cannabis into South Korea without authorisation can be prosecuted as i … annabis medicines must use the separate medical-records and import-approval route.[@mfds] A foreigner sentenced to imprisonment faces deportation and a five-year entry ban.[@immigration]
nca2026, customs, slg, mfds, immigration
The Road Traffic Act punishes driving when normal driving is difficult because of drugs, which include narcotics, psychotropics and cannabis.[@fn26] Under amendments in force from April 2026 the maximum penalty rose from three years in prison or a 10 million won fine to five years or 20 million won, and from 2 April 2026 refusing a drug test became an offence punished at the same level.[@fn26] Police said a prescribed medicine does not by itself lead to punishment: the test is whether attention and motor skills are actually impaired.[@fn26] Officers may use saliva tests, behavioural checks and urine or blood tests.[@fn26]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 99The 2025 white paper records 128.6 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 1145.6 kg in 2023of resin and 0.3 kg of seed seized, within a total of 1,156.4 kg of drugs of which 65.4% was imported.[@spo25] UNODC's government-reported series records 99 kg of herbal cannabis and 5.1 kg of cannabis resin seized in 2024, against 114 kg and 3.2 kg in 2023; the two series use different coverage. The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents[@unodc_szr] A September 2026 case involved 646 kg shipped from Thailand, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borderslargest domestic-sale cannabis import on record.[@yakuza26]
unodc_szr, spo25, yakuza26
South Korea Supreme Prosecutors' Office — 2025 drug crime white paper (28 July 2026) South Korea Supreme Court — 2022두60776, CBD and cannabis definition (29 May 2025) Gyeongbuk — Andong hemp regulation-free zone extended to 2027 (25 November 2024) Yonhap — 20 years sought over 646 kg cannabis import (29 September 2026) News Tomato — MFDS halts the medical cannabis expansion plan (31 October 2025) Chosun Biz — Medical cannabis prescriptions and the 2026 review (16 September 2026) South Korea — Epidiolex reimbursement from April 2021 South Korea — Immigration Act, articles 11 and 46 13 unchanged
KRW
label Smoking or ingesting cannabis · treatment criminal · term Personal use · prison 5 years · fine 50000000
Death is available only for profit-making or habitual import or export of cannabis under Article 58(2); ordinary possession, use, cultivation and sale are not capital.[@nca2026] The prosecutors' 2025 white paper records no life or death sentence in cannabis cases in 2023–2025.[@spo25] No cannabis execution was found.[@spo25]
nca2026, spo25
licensed
Licensed academic researchers may grow or import cannabis for research with MFDS approval and reporting.[@nca2026] Universities, KIST and the Andong zone do cannabis and CBD work, but no patient clinical trial was verified.[@nca2026]
nca2026