Background: This study was aimed to establish the systematic management methods of tar color additives used in Korea for drugs and quasi-drugs. Although tar color additives have been used in various areas, safety problems are continuously being reported by several studies. For that reason, major countries like US, Japan, Europe are trying to update the safety information of tar color additives and the related management methods, and Korea also need to complement them based on the updated information for their safer use. Method: This report includes the compared information of all legally used tar color additives of each country, such as color additive name, compound name and chemical abstracts service registry number. Conclusion: It is expected that these investigated results will be useful as the basic materials for proper management guidelines of tar color additives in Korea.