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Lee Won-bok, who has led the Korean Vegetarian Union and the Korean Animal Protection Union, offers a clear example of how the country’s vegan and animal-rights movement has presented itself to the public. Through press conferences, street campaigns and public statements in central Seoul locations such as Gwanghwamun and Yeouido, the groups have broadened their message beyond dietary practice to address animal rights, the climate crisis, food labeling and consumer choice.
The organizations have organized street campaigns timed to observances such as World Vegan Day, World Vegetarian Day, World Day for Laboratory Animals and World Animal Rights Day, and to highlight topical issues. On March 10, vegan and animal-rights groups including the Korean Vegetarian Union and the Korean Animal Protection Union held a press conference in front of the Admiral Yi Sun‑sin statue in Gwanghwamun under the banner “Animals Are Not Food,” urging adoption of vegan diets. Their messaging has consistently linked animal rights, eating habits and bioethical concerns.
Lee’s approach emphasizes repetition and persistence rather than one-off mass events. He has continued to hold group press conferences and street campaigns despite bad weather and seasonal constraints, and has issued statements and position papers to keep specific issues in the public debate. During the fourth-stage social distancing measures in the Seoul metropolitan area in 2021, he staged a solo press conference in Gwanghwamun calling for vegan diets. That statement tied marine animal sentience, consumption of animal products and links between infectious disease and dietary habits together.
Public debate around veganism and animal rights in South Korea has widened. Early on, vegetarianism was often framed chiefly as a personal diet or health choice. Today, discussions extend to ingredient labeling, choice in school and other public meal programs, access to alternative foods, and whether cosmetics, fashion and automobile materials contain animal-derived ingredients. Veganism is shifting from a table-level choice to a broader consumer standard affecting daily life.
Lee and other advocates say changes in the vegan market now reach beyond food to clothing, cosmetics and even materials used in automobiles, expanding ethical consumer standards across everyday life. They emphasize the need for transparency in ingredient and certification standards and for information consumers can verify. As vegan products and services proliferate, labeling credibility and accessibility will be major challenges going forward.
The movement has also strengthened its connections to climate and environmental issues. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has concluded that agri-food systems account for a significant share of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. That analysis underscores that conversations about dietary shifts are linked to climate action, land use and food systems—not only individual ethics.
The groups’ activities indicate that the vegan and animal-rights movement in South Korea is expanding from street campaigns into everyday life and institutional agendas. For street-raised concerns to translate into policy and market debate, advocates need verifiable data and language that consumers can readily understand. Food labeling, public meal programs, industrial materials and climate policy will remain the primary challenges the movement faces.
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