How South Korea makes the most innovative sunscreen in the world

Inside a South Korean laboratory for sunscreen products, Dasol Song, 39, walked alongside a long wall of colorful bottles and tubes, displayed like trophies celebrating the latest advances in UV protection.

Around him, fellow researchers sifted through shelves of beakers and plastic containers. Others, clad in aprons, stirred large metal pots, more akin to chefs than cosmetic scientists.

“As researchers, we are never satisfied,” says Song, a team leader at Kolmar’s UV Tech Innovation Laboratory in Seoul.

That mindset has helped propel South Korea to the forefront of sunscreen innovation.

Kolmar—one of the world’s largest cosmetic original development manufacturers (ODMs)—sits at the center of the global K-beauty boom, pumping out skincare, makeup, and sunscreen for international brands.

Inside the company’s Seoul Research and Development Complex, roughly 70 scientists are developing the next generation of UV protection technology.  Their goal is no longer to block ultraviolet radiation.

“In the future, we would like to reach the point of personalized protection,” Song says. “People live in different locations, they have different lifestyles, different skin.”

Researchers are now asking an ambitious question: What if sunscreen could do far more than prevent sunburn?

Sunscreen is entering a new era

Sunscreen has undergone a renaissance over the last 15 to 20 years, according to several experts, with Europe and East Asia at the forefront of innovation. New-age UV filters—compounds that help protect against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation—have enabled researchers to develop sunscreens that last longer, cover a broader range of the light spectrum, and feel more pleasant on the skin.

South Korea is particularly known for developing formulas that combine sun protection with other benefits, such as moisturizing serums, anti-inflammatory ingredients, skin barrier-supporting agents, and trendy add-ons like niacinamide or Centella asiatica, commonly known as cica.

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But scientists increasingly see sunscreen as more than a tool for preventing sunburn. Around the world, researchers are exploring ways to create products that shield the skin from pollution, support a healthy skin microbiome, cause less harm to coral reefs, and cool down human skin.

“In the future, sunscreen may function less like a simple UV-blocking product and more like a comprehensive skin protection product against multiple environmental stressors,” says Chohi Park, a beauty industry professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul. “Future products will likely provide protection not only against UVA and UVB, but also against visible light, pollution-related oxidative stress, and long-term photoaging caused by chronic low-level UV exposure.”

Beyond UV protection

That shift is already shaping the kinds of products researchers are developing. At Kolmar, scientists recently developed a lightweight scalp sunscreen and proposed a testing regimen to assess how well the product protects hair from sun damage.

The company is also working to improve “optical refraction-based UV blocking technology,” which forms a transparent film that redirects ultraviolet rays away from the skin. In other words, sunscreen researchers are attempting to control light itself.

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Future generations of sunscreen may also have what Kolmar calls “smart UV protection”—formulas that thicken or thin out in real time to adapt to UV intensity, humidity, and skin temperature.

“We’re always looking for new materials, for ways to better protect against the entire spectrum of light,” Song says. “Number one sun care in the world. That’s the goal,” he added.

How K-beauty changed sunscreen

In South Korea, sunscreen is considered “a normal step of daily skincare,” according to Song—partly for its ability to prevent premature skin aging, but also because Korean beauty standards have historically preferred paler skin. In the United States, roughly 13 percent of Americans say they wear sun protection products daily. Researchers say part of the reason is that many U.S. sunscreens do not look or feel as good on the skin.

“Korean sunscreens have redefined the sensory experience of sunscreen,” says Sungil Park, head of the Skincare Research Division at the Amorepacific’s Research and Innovation Center. “While many traditional sunscreens have historically been perceived as heavy, greasy, sticky, or leaving a white cast, Korean sunscreens are widely recognized for their lightweight, fast-absorbing, and cosmetically elegant textures.”

Why U.S. sunscreens lag behind

Much of that innovation, however, has depended on access to newer UV filters that remain largely unavailable in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration—which considers these products drugs rather than cosmetics—has so far authorized the use of 17 UV filters, compared with more than 30 available in South Korea and the European Union today.

Some have called the FDA’s sunscreen regulations antiquated, pointing to a requirement for clinical animal testing—which is banned in the European Union—and a framework that does not allow for more modern risk assessment methods. Because of those subtle differences, “a lot of the data that is available elsewhere cannot be used for application and approval by the FDA,” says Henry Lim, a dermatologist at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

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“It’s not necessarily that the FDA regards these UV filters as more dangerous,” says Gordon Li, founder and CEO of Noedal, a firm that helps Korean beauty companies comply with U.S. market regulations. “It’s more so that there’s a higher burden of proof for manufacturers and brands to be allowed to sell,” he says.

Kyungho Choi, a professor of environmental toxicology at Seoul National University, argues that sunscreen ingredients have not been studied rigorously enough and points to research showing that some compounds can be absorbed into the bloodstream, detected in urine, and may hurt kidney and liver function.

“Sunscreen is just like a nicotine patch. Those ingredients keep constantly absorbing into your skin for a long time,” Choi says. “We do not have enough information to be sure these compounds are safe to be used.”

Still, many dermatologists argue that the proven benefits of sunscreen outweigh the potential risks.

“Definitely, [when sunscreen] gets absorbed, it can be detected in blood—for weeks, in some cases—but the clinical significance is not known,” says Lim. Some studies suggesting harm were conducted in animals or involved direct ingestion rather than absorption through the skin, he says.

Those regulatory differences have also shaped what kinds of sunscreens companies can make. In recent years, researchers in Korea and Europe have figured out how to capitalize on new-age UV filters to combine UV protection with other skincare benefits, but many of those beneficial compounds “don’t play well with the existing filters in the U.S.,” Li says.

That may soon begin to change. In June, the FDA authorized a new UV filter for the first time since 1999: bemotrizinol, or BEMT, which has long been used in Europe and Asia.

Like several other new-age UV filters, BEMT has a higher molecular weight, making it less likely to penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream.

“There are significant advantages. That’s the reason we are all quite excited,” Lim says shortly before the filter’s approval.

From sunblock to skin protection

Descending an atrium staircase at Kolmar’s sprawling research complex in Seoul, Song politely declined to show a UV tech innovation laboratory, passing a series of “No photos” signs along the way.

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Within the next five years, Kolmar says it hopes to release “genome-based personalized sunscreens” and “microbiome-supportive designs.” Song says he and his colleagues are “working very hard” to bring the next generation of sunscreen, sometimes turning around new formulas in just three or four months.

“In the past, sun care was seen in Europe and America and elsewhere as something you use at the beach,” he says. “Now, it’s becoming a part of our daily life, a part of our personal protection … and Korea has led this trend, very fast.”