Third-Party Reproduction in South Korea: A Guide for Intended Parents

Summary: Third-Party Reproduction in South Korea

South Korea has among the lowest birth rates in the world (1, 2). At the same time, it is estimated that more than 200,000 South Korean women receive infertility treatment each year, with the total number of patients reaching about 300,000 in 2024 (3, 4). Yet out of 107,716 IVF cycles that involved creating fresh embryos in Korea in 2022, only 61 (about 0.06%) used donor eggs, making it vanishingly rare. Many intended parents choose to travel abroad to destinations like the USA, Canada, Taiwan or Spain, with greater donor availability.

South Korea is well known for its excellent medical industry with advanced technologies. South Korea had around 200 government-designated infertility treatment institutions providing assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in 2022 (3), and the level of medical technology and skill is very high in the country. The government has brought intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and frozen embryo transfer (FET) under National Health Insurance coverage in October 2017 to increase the birth rate among married couples (5, 6).

While altruistic (non-commercial) donation of gametes in ART is allowed, barriers and restrictions remain. IVF with donor gametes is difficult to access for married heterosexual couples, while IVF for single parents and same-sex couples is restricted in practice by the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology's (KSOG) ethical guidelines, even though, in 2022, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea found this restriction discriminatory (4, 7).

Surrogacy is not explicitly regulated, and surrogacy contracts are considered unenforceable; under the Korean Civil Code, the woman who gives birth is recognised as the legal mother regardless of genetic relationship. Commercial surrogacy arrangements have been prosecuted under the Child Welfare Act and the Bioethics and Safety Act (8, 9, 10). Intended parents who access surrogacy abroad should consult with a lawyer in Korea before signing a contract to clarify the process of establishing parentage in Korea.

Is Egg Donation Legal in South Korea?

Yes, but in practice, it is difficult to access. The main legislation regulating ART, including IVF with donor gametes, in South Korea is the Bioethics and Safety Act proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and passed by the National Assembly, which took effect on 1 January 2005 (11, 12). The Act regulates research on stem cells and in vitro fertilization and gained attention following a scandal involving a Seoul National University researcher who was found to have unethically used eggs obtained from staff and other women (12). The Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology issued Ethical Guidelines on Assisted Reproduction in January 2011, which were revised in 2012, but they are nonbinding and not enforceable (15, 16).

The Act allows non-commercial (altruistic) egg and sperm donation, but outlaws commercial (paid) gamete donation (11). Though the law forbids commercial donation, it is still possible for clinics to reimburse donors for direct out-of-pocket expenses such as transportation, medical care, and time lost from work, as prescribed by the Enforcement Decree and the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare under the Act (11, 13). The Act also mandates health screening of egg donors and sets limits on the number of lifetime donations (no more than three times in her lifetime) (13).

The Act also sets a five-year cap on embryo storage (Article 25) and contains specific provisions on preimplantation genetic testing: pre-implantation genetic testing may be used only to diagnose muscular dystrophy or one of more than 150 conditions (11, 14).

Under the Korean Civil Code, a woman who is pregnant while married is presumed to be carrying the husband's child, and a person born within 200 days from the date of the marriage or within 300 days from the date of termination of the marital relationship is presumed to be the husband's child (Articles 844 and 845 of the Civil Act). Korean courts have consistently held that the woman who gives birth is the legal mother of the child regardless of any genetic connection, a principle that affects how surrogacy arrangements are treated (8, 9).

Availability of Donor Eggs, Sperm and Embryos in South Korea

While non-commercial egg donation is legal in South Korea, in practice, the availability of donor eggs is very rare, and, in some cases, remains socially stigmatized. This is partially due to the public scandal caused in the early 2000s when the researcher Hwang Woo-suk at Seoul National University was found to have obtained eggs from patients, female junior researchers, and other vulnerable women (12).

Some clinics still maintain egg donation programs for couples who are unable to conceive with their own eggs. Egg donors must do so voluntarily, without being paid for their donation. It is illegal for agents to coerce women into egg donation, or to recruit them by paying for eggs; trafficking or brokering of gametes or embryos for profit is a criminal offence under Article 23(3) of the Bioethics and Safety Act, punishable by up to three years' imprisonment (11). However, the media and members of Parliament have reported that many agents function in a semi-legal or outright illegal manner to arrange egg donation for couples.

The Bioethics and Safety Act mandates that egg donors must go through a health check and provide written consent for egg donation (Article 24). Sperm donors must also go through a health check. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, screening must include ABO blood type and screening for infectious diseases and medical conditions (syphilis, gonorrhea, HIV, HTLV (human T-lymphotropic virus), spinal muscular atrophy, hepatitis B and C, among others) (17). The Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that donors also go through a mental health check (15).

Donor sperm is more widely available, with many IVF clinics managing their own non-commercial sperm banks. Some government officials have been promoting the creation of a public sperm bank system, as is common in other OECD countries; institutions such as the Korea Institute for Public Sperm Bank (established 2015), the Korean Network for Public Sperm Bank (2016), and the Korea Institute for Standardizing Sperm Bank (2017) have been working to bring sperm-bank operations up to international standards (17, 18). Currently, the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that the limitation on the number of sperm donations be 10 children per donor (15, 17).

In South Korea, preimplantation genetic screening is permitted only for diagnosing muscular dystrophy or other hereditary diseases specifically listed by presidential decree under Article 50 of the Bioethics and Safety Act; over 150 conditions are currently included on this list. Aneuploidy screening (PGT-A) for general embryo selection is not authorised by the Act. Selecting the sex of an embryo at fertilisation is expressly prohibited by Article 23(2) of the Act, except where required to avoid a serious sex-linked genetic disease (11, 14).

Egg Donor Reimbursement in South Korea

In South Korea, commercial compensation for egg or sperm donors is not allowed. However, egg donors can be reimbursed for their time, discomfort, medical, and travel expenses as per the criteria set by the government under the Enforcement Decree and Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare implementing the Bioethics and Safety Act. In practice, this means donors receive expense-based reimbursement, which sharply limits the supply of donor eggs available to Korean clinics (11, 13).

Anonymous, Open, and Known Donation in South Korea

The Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology's Ethical Guidelines on Assisted Reproduction, issued in January 2011 and revised in 2012, support anonymous donation. Known donors might be accepted by some clinics, but this practice is not explicitly outlined in the official guidelines, suggesting variability in how clinics might approach known or open donations (15, 16).

Import and Export of Gametes and Embryos

The regulatory picture is unclear because the Bioethics and Safety Act does not contain a specific provision dealing with international transfer of gametes or embryos. What follows summarises the law as written and what appears to happen in practice; intended parents should obtain qualified legal and medical advice before relying on any cross-border plan.

Import of donor gametes into South Korea

Import of donor gametes is not expressly prohibited by the Bioethics and Safety Act, but it is heavily constrained by the Act's general rules. Embryo-producing medical institutions must be designated by the Minister of Health and Welfare (Article 22) and may only collect, store and use gametes within the framework of written-consent, anonymity, and non-commercialisation rules under Articles 23–24 (11). In practice, the leading international donor sperm banks do not list South Korea among their routine shipping destinations, and Korean clinics generally rely on domestic sperm banks operated by KSOG-affiliated hospitals or by the Korea Institute for Public Sperm Bank (17, 19, 20). Donor eggs from overseas commercial banks are not, in practice, available through Korean clinics (4, 17).

Export of a patient's own gametes or embryos

Export of a patient's own sperm, eggs or embryos is not specifically prohibited under the Bioethics and Safety Act, and is, in principle, possible with the cooperation of the Korean embryo-producing medical institution holding the material. Korean and international fertility agencies routinely advertise outbound shipment of frozen embryos and gametes from Korea to fertility clinics in jurisdictions where the intended parents will receive treatments that are not available in Korea, including surrogacy and treatment for single women or same-sex couples (21, 22). Specialist cryo-couriers handle the dry-shipper, customs and documentation work; both the sending clinic in Korea and the receiving clinic in the destination country must coordinate the paperwork (23, 24).

Export of embryos created in Korea with donor gametes

This scenario sits in a regulatory grey area, and intended parents should treat anything written here as a starting point for legal advice rather than as confirmation that a particular plan is lawful. As a matter of statutory text, the Bioethics and Safety Act does not explicitly prohibit exporting embryos lawfully created in Korea. However, because (i) only legally married couples may currently access donor-gamete IVF in Korea in practice, (ii) the Act requires written consent of all parties involved in producing the embryo (Article 24), and (iii) embryos may be produced only for the purpose of pregnancy and may not be produced or used for commercial benefit (Articles 23 and 24), intended parents who lawfully created donor-gamete embryos in Korea and later wish to ship them abroad for embryo transfer should expect the sending clinic to require detailed documentation and to seek approval from its institutional bioethics committee before releasing the embryos (11). Intended parents should also expect significant scrutiny from clinics, given that surrogacy itself is not regulated in Korea and is socially controversial (8).

Is Surrogacy Legal in South Korea?

In practice, it is not available to most; surrogacy is unregulated in South Korea, but intended parents who need the support of a gestational carrier to start their family should consult with a lawyer and consider looking abroad. Some aspects of commercial surrogacy are illegal in South Korea, and establishing parentage for children born through surrogacy overseas can be complex. Several bills have been proposed to regulate surrogacy in South Korea, but none have been passed.

In 2024, the Gwangju Bukbu Police referred a gestational carrier, intended parents, and a broker to prosecutors for an arrangement in which the surrogate had been paid 50 million won (about USD 38,000) in 2010–2011; the charges were based on the Child Welfare Act, which makes transferring a child for monetary gain punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, and the Bioethics and Safety Act's prohibition on commercial provision of embryos or gametes (9).

The South Korean Supreme Court has not issued any rulings on surrogacy, but the Seoul Family Court ruled in May 2018, in an appellate decision against a couple whose child had been born to a surrogate in the United States, that under Korean family law the woman who gives birth is the legal mother, regardless of genetic relationship; the court held that "the act of giving birth should trump genetic factors in determining the legal parent" (8, 10). Because of this, surrogacy contracts are generally considered unenforceable. A child born to a surrogate in Korea is registered as the child of the surrogate, and intended parents must in practice rely on adoption to establish legal parentage with respect to the intended mother (8, 10). In practice, this means that, to become the legal parents of the child instead of the surrogate, intended parents must complete a domestic adoption process, which is lengthy, varies regionally, and is not guaranteed (8).

Additionally, it is reported that many clinics in South Korea only permit surrogacy when the surrogate is a sister of the intended mother, a conservative practice adopted by leading licensed clinics because the change of parentage must be effected by adoption and clinics fear regulatory and reputational consequences if surrogacy is conducted more broadly without a clear legal framework (26). Legal advice is essential for intended parents considering surrogacy in South Korea before signing any contracts, domestically or abroad.

Can LGBTQIA+ Couples Use IVF in South Korea?

No. Same-sex couples wishing to undergo IVF or IUI are not, in practice, able to do so in South Korea, both because the Bioethics and Safety Act requires the written consent of the spouse where one exists (Articles 24, and consent rules referenced in Article 27 and following) and because the KSOG's nonbinding ethical guidelines effectively limit access to ART to legally married opposite-sex couples (4, 11, 15). This restriction applies to both Korean nationals and foreign couples, even with a legal marriage license from another country. South Korean national law does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. While the Supreme Court of Korea, in 2024, upheld a ruling that the National Health Insurance Service must extend spousal dependent benefits to same-sex couples in long-term, marriage-like relationships, the ruling does not change access to ART (27, 28).

Can Single Women Use IVF in South Korea?

While it is not prohibited, it is unavailable in practice. In South Korea, single women can freeze their eggs but have historically not been able to fertilise these eggs in practice (7). Because the KSOG ethical guidelines advise doctors against treating unmarried women, and because Korean licensed sperm banks have generally refused to provide donor sperm to single women, IVF and IUI have been practically unavailable for single women in Korea (4, 7, 15). The Bioethics and Safety Act itself does not in terms prohibit a single woman from using donor sperm or her own eggs to undergo IVF, but it requires the written consent of the donor and of the spouse, if any, of the person undergoing in vitro fertilisation (Article 24) (11).

In July 2022, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended that KSOG revise its guidelines, finding that restricting IVF for unmarried women was discriminatory (7, 29). Following this recommendation and continuing media attention — including the high-profile case of Japanese television personality Sayuri Fujita, who returned to Japan to conceive using donor sperm because she could not do so in Korea — the Ministry of Health and Welfare clarified in 2025 that the current law does not prohibit IVF for single women and that such procedures are legally permissible (4, 7). In practice, however, clinical access for single women remains limited, and married couples are still required to present a marriage certificate and obtain spousal consent for treatment (4, 11).

How to Choose an IVF Clinic in South Korea

Select a clinic accredited by the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (KSOG) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. These certifications ensure that the clinic adheres to national standards for medical practice and patient care. Additionally, it is beneficial if the clinic's doctors are members of professional societies such as the Korean Society of Reproductive Medicine (KSRM) or the Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine, publisher of the peer-reviewed journal Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine (3).

In South Korea, the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (KSOG) initially collected data on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) procedures and published their first report in 1992. Since 2013, the Korean Society for Assisted Reproduction (KOSAR; sometimes written KSAR) has taken over this reporting role. Since 2018–2019, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, has also collected nationwide ART data through a mandatory reporting system from all 201 designated infertility treatment institutions (3). To access clinic success rates, seek information from the:

• Korean Society for Assisted Reproduction (KOSAR): KOSAR publishes annual reports and data on ART procedures, including IVF success rates. Patients can access these reports through the KOSAR website or by contacting the society directly. The most recent annual report covers procedures performed in 2022 and was published in Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine in December 2025 (3).

• Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (KSOG): Historical data and previous reports can be found through KSOG. Their website and publications may contain archived reports and additional resources.

• Government Health Portals: The Ministry of Health and Welfare in South Korea may provide access to national statistics and reports on ART success rates through their official website, and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) now also publishes summary data on infertility treatment outcomes (3).

Average Costs of IVF with Donor Eggs or Sperm in South Korea

In South Korea, the average cost of IVF ranges from approximately US$4,500 to US$9,500 for a standard IVF cycle, including tests, procedures, and medication for self-paying foreign patients quoted by international medical-tourism agencies. For Korean nationals, IVF and related procedures have been covered by National Health Insurance since October 2017, so out-of-pocket costs are substantially lower than the foreign-quoted figures (5, 6, 30).

IVF with donor eggs can add US$2,000 to US$3,500 to the cost, bringing the total to US$8,000 to US$12,000. This cost includes the donor's medical expenses, reimbursement (limited to reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses under the Bioethics and Safety Act, not commercial payment), and any necessary legal fees. IVF with donor sperm is usually less expensive than with donor eggs, generally adding around US$1,000 to US$2,000 to the standard IVF cost (30).

For Koreans, the national government brought IVF, ICSI and frozen embryo transfer under National Health Insurance coverage in October 2017, reducing the patient share to approximately 30 per cent of treatment costs (5, 6). The Seoul Metropolitan Government separately runs an Egg Freezing Cost Support Project that reimburses up to 50 per cent of egg-freezing costs, capped at 2 million won (about USD 1,500) per person, for residents aged 20–49 (subject to additional medical criteria for women in their 20s) (31, 32). These are part of government efforts to increase the birth rate.