President Lee Jae Myung (R) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 27, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday proposed the idea of imposing a “sugar levy” to help curb sugar intake and bolster public health care funding, citing a similar levy on tobacco.
Lee made the remark on X, formerly Twitter, as he posted a news article citing a survey that showed around eight in 10 South Koreans supported a sugar tax that would impose a levy on companies that use excessive amounts of sugar in their products.
“Just like cigarettes, we could curb the use of sugar through a levy on sugar and reinvest this revenue to strengthen regional and public health care … what do you think?” Lee wrote.
According to the report, more than 120 countries are implementing sugar taxes or similar measures based on World Health Organization recommendations.
Under the National Health Promotion Act, the National Health Promotion Fund is primarily funded by tax on tobacco consumption, and is used for various anti-smoking and health care programs.
In response, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) argued that Lee’s proposal would place an additional burden on consumers through higher indirect taxes and fuel inflation by raising prices of everyday products that contain sugar.
“If companies simply avoid the regulation by switching from sugar to other sweeteners, it is likely to cause side effects such as inflation from price hikes, without delivering any real public health benefits,” PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon said in a statement.
“The bigger issue is that a sugar levy is a regressive tax,” Park added. “Such indirect taxes can reduce the disposable income of vulnerable groups and may even worsen their eating habits.”
Cheong Wa Dae said it will gather opinions from various stakeholders on the proposed sugar levy, including its impact on public health and how any revenue might be used in the public health sector.
(Yonhap)
