Exploring Korea’s “Illegal” Tattoo Scene

In South Korea, people with tattoos have the stigma of being up to no good. But things seem to be changing as time goes on.

Tattoos in Korea are also looked down upon since in the past only gangsters and draft dodgers would get them. However, recently some younger Korean adults have been trying to change this trend. In this video by i-DGrace Neutral goes around Seoul talking people in the tattoo scene.

She finds out that tattoos are also basically illegal since the tattoo artist must be a licensed doctor. But as Apro Lee said, “Who’s gonna be a tattoo artist when they have a doctor’s license?” Because of this, the tattoo artists in Korea operate out of illegal studios. Even though they have to work in secret, they still do astonishing work. Grace Neutral had to head to a nightclub to find others with body art. Once there she found people with very artistic and beautiful tattoos. Check out some of the other pieces of art that Korean tattoo artists have created.

A photo posted by horikuni_1 (@horikuni_1) on

A photo posted by 김도균 (@aka_mu) on

Source: i-D YouTube