Is it legal to own a pepper spray in South Korea?
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Quick answer
Legal position
Current starter summary
South Korea does not treat gas sprayers and electric shock devices as ordinary unrestricted consumer items. The weapons safety law requires a possession permit for gas sprayers and electric shock machines unless a statutory exception applies.
Conditions
What would need to be true
Do not buy, carry or keep pepper spray without confirming that the item falls within the gas-sprayer permit rules and that the required police permission has been obtained.
Exceptions
Known carve-outs or edge cases
The law contains limited specific exceptions, but the checked official sources do not support a broad over-the-counter consumer exception.
Penalties
Penalty snapshot
Violating the permit rules for gas sprayers or electric shock machines can be punished by up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million won.
Enforcement
How this may be enforced
Police licensing authorities control possession permits for regulated self-defence weapons.
More rules in South Korea
Use the reset build to keep country pages useful even before every row is fully sourced.
gamble online
Online gambling in South Korea is not a flat yes or no answer from the official sources checked here. The Criminal Act punishes gambling and habitual gambling, but specific state-authorized gambling products are treated separately by statute.
buy a pepper spray
South Korea does not treat gas sprayers and electric shock devices as ordinary unrestricted consumer items. The weapons safety law requires a possession permit for gas sprayers and electric shock machines unless a statutory exception applies.
buy a stun gun
South Korea does not treat gas sprayers and electric shock devices as ordinary unrestricted consumer items. The weapons safety law requires a possession permit for gas sprayers and electric shock machines unless a statutory exception applies.
buy a taser
South Korea does not treat gas sprayers and electric shock devices as ordinary unrestricted consumer items. The weapons safety law requires a possession permit for gas sprayers and electric shock machines unless a statutory exception applies.
Compare this activity in other countries
This makes the rule page useful for comparison without creating a second data source.
Australia
Australia does not have one uniform civilian pepper-spray rule. Victoria Police says capsicum spray is illegal to purchase, possess, carry or use without a Governor in Council exemption or Chief Commissioner approval, while WA regulations expressly allow carrying or possessing a capsicum spray weapon for lawful defence where the person has reasonable grounds to apprehend circumstances may arise.
Austria
Austria’s official pepper spray page treats pepper spray as a weapon but allows civilian possession subject to rules, and states it may only be used exclusively in self-defence.
Belgium
Belgian Justice lists self-defence aerosols and sprays as prohibited weapons. Prohibited weapons cannot lawfully be possessed, bought, transported or carried by civilians.
Canada
In Canada a spray designed to be used against humans is a prohibited weapon but animal repellents labelled only for animal use are treated differently.
About this row
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Official sources
Source URLs attached
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The new site should show a stable layout, a stable route, and clear source slots before the dataset is scaled up again. That keeps management simple and makes later official-source population safer.