The East Asian nation currently only mandates the labelling of approved GM raw materials such as soybeans and corn; or those manufactured or processed using these materials and found to still contain residual GM content.
If passed into law, the new draft regulations would see a variety of commonly used processed food items including soy sauce, sugar syrups and edible oils that have used GM ingredients in their processing end up being mandated to carry GM labelling, regardless of whether any residual GM content is found in the end product.
“As long as the product has been manufactured or processed using genetically modified agricultural, livestock or marine ingredients approved for food use in South Korea, these must be labelled as a GM food even if no GM DNA or proteins remain in the final product,” South Korean Minister of Food and Drug Safety Oh Yoo-kyung said via a formal statement.
“These updated, detailed standards have been established through the GMO Labelling Strengthening Working Group after consultations with industry, consumers and academia.”
The six GM products approved for food use in South Korea
- Soybeans
- Corn
- Cotton
- Canola
- Alfalfa
- Sugar beets
GM labelling in this case would require the product brands and manufacturers to include statements on the product label such as ‘Genetically modified food’, ‘Contains genetically modified [ingredient]’, or ‘May contain genetically modified [ingredient]’.
The food category that will be immediately affected by this change is soy sauce, as MFDS has highlighted plans to enforce this for soy sauce ‘immediately’ at the end of the year, starting December 31, 2026.
Manufacturers of sugars and related products as well as edible oils will have an additional year’s transition period to December 31, 2027 as MFDS anticipates that these products will require facility upgrades to accommodate these changes.
For the edible oils category, affected products include soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, beef, lard and related products such as cooking oil, flavoured oils, shortening and margarine.
MFDS has opened up these draft regulations for public comment until April 30 2026. The full document can be found here (Document in Korean), and comments can be submitted via email to MFDS.
Korea’s longstanding GM dispute
South Korea has had a long history of general GMO distrust especially with regard to foods, but new data has indicated a shift towards the positive.
Pew Research Centre data from 2020 had shown 57% of South Koreans viewing GM foods as unsafe, well above the global average of 48%.
Fast forward five years to 2025, new research from the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Rural Development Administration of Jeonju, South Korea has shown a shift: 40% of respondents still feel that the sale of GM foods in the country should be delayed even if the technology is proven safe, but 65% now feel that there is a need for more national investment into this area to help it grow more quickly.
“This is likely driven by Korea’s low food self-sufficiency rate, leading [people to push for] government support which they find necessary to promote the utilisation of GM technology,” the study authors stated.
“Additionally, over half (55%) of respondents stressed that it is important to minimise ‘unnecessary regulations and conflicts’ because this technology is a promising alternative to pressing issues such as climate change.”
But although things seem to be edging towards the better for GM foods in South Korea, there still remain various grey areas to be cleared up, even with these new draft regulations.
For instance, MFDS has stated that other oils which are not classified under South Korea’s approved GM list are not subject to any sort of similar labelling, even if imported from markets where GM ingredients may have been used in their manufacturing.
“Edible oils such as sesame oil and olive oil [may be in the same category as soybean oil and corn oil], but since their raw ingredients, sesame and olive, are not approved as GM ingredients for food use in South Korea, they are not effectively subject to GMO labelling,” the ministry highlighted.
