From ancient times, the Korean ancestors used various species of plants for makeup.
They boiled peach blossoms and leaves in spring, elm leaves in summer and angelica roots in autumn and used their extracted water for makeup.
They usually called girls with fine skin the daughters of tubu (bean curd) house. It is because they ensured the smoothness of their skin by bathing in water squeezed from uncurdled bean curd.
Court ladies washed their faces with the powdered red bean or mung bean.
The Korean women made face powder, lipstick, eyebrow pencil, perfume and hair oil by making use of various plants.
The face powder was made of the powder of a four-o’clock seeds or rice and other grains, and the lipstick, the safflower.
The eyebrow pencil was made of the ashes of oriental oak and beech.
The perfume was made of stalks, leaves and roots with good fragrance by pounding them after drying in the shade. Pieces of juniper tree was also used to this end.
Fruits of camellia tree was used in making hair oil.
A historical book in Japan records that the Japanese learned the techniques of producing cosmetics and their usage from the people of Paekje.
DPRK Foreign Minister Issues Press Statement
Choe Son Hui, foreign minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, released the following press statement titled “G7
November 14, 2025
Choe Son Hui, foreign minister of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, released the following press statement titled “G7
