Now it’s time to take a close look at a small but competitive business making a difference for the Korean economy. This week’s spotlight is on DBK Korea, the country’s leading pesticide manufacturer.

Fear is mounting worldwide over infectious diseases transmitted through mosquitos, as the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern after a substantial spread of Zika virus. The global anxiety has led to a spike in mosquito repellents and naturally brought worldwide attention on pesticide manufacturers like DBK Korea. DBK Korea is the top OEM producer of indoor pesticides for such leading pharmaceutical companies as Henkel, known for its mosquito insecticide Home Keeper, Yuhan Corporation, and ChongKunDang종근당 Pharmaceuticals. Here’s Mr. Lee Dong-wook, an executive officer of DBK Korea, to explain more about the company.

Our company was established back in 1994 and has been producing home insecticides such as Home Keeper and F-Killer for top domestic pharmaceutical and chemical companies. When we first started making mosquito control products, they came in the form of solid tablets, liquid, and incense. When we needed PTC devices for our fumigator, we used the ones from DBK in Germany and that’s when the two businesses entered into a technical partnership. Since then we have been using the name DBK Korea.




The local insecticide market started to thrive when green coils of mosquito repellent fumigator were used in almost every home to kill mosquitos. Then, bug-killing aerosol sprays dominated the market in the 1980s. But as more consumers began to look for safer and more effective insect-killing products in the 1990s, market shelves were filled with a wide range of different types of home insecticides. DBK Korea was founded during this time of change in the local bug spray market and soon partnered up with DBK in Germany. The company also opened an in-house research lab and produced various pesticides for home use as an original development manufacturer.

DBK Korea is the only company in the country that specializes in aerosol and solid tablet bug killers. In short we provide a total solution to all your pest problems, including mosquitos and roaches. We are capable of supplying our customers with a wide array of effective products in a timely manner and develop new products according to customer needs.

DBK Korea is the only company in Korea that manufactures a variety of indoor insecticides from its own factory. If its sole purpose was to make more money, it would have been more profitable to select only the best-selling products and outsource their production to overseas factories manned with cheap labor. But DBK Korea’s founding principle is “customer satisfaction,” which means the company puts customer needs ahead of profit and strives to fulfill those needs through relentless research and development efforts. As a result, DBK Korea currently makes 14 types of insecticide. In fact, data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety indicates that DBK Korea is a hands-down industry leader as it has been approved for the production of 89 individual bug-killing items. DB

K Korea is also well-known for its strict product quality management in spite of the vast number of products it makes.

Our company CEO has a grade 1 quality management certification and the company policy is to put product quality above all else. All products have to go through a tub filled with 50-degree water. If we wanted to cut cost, we could have skipped this part, because it takes money to boil the water and keep the water constantly at that temperature. Such disregard for profit-making or cost-cutting measures is what maintains the high quality of DBK Korea products.


DBK Korea has the largest number of quality control staff members among the insecticide manufacturers in Korea. Pest-killing agents can threaten human health if the substances used in them exceed the allowed levels even by a little, which is why the company maintains product quality as well as product effectiveness. It is corporate duty to observe strict quality control standards, but many companies fail or neglect to fulfill that duty to keep their price competitiveness and profit levels high. Nonetheless, DBK Korea has maintained high quality standards for some 20 years. The latest brand from DBK Korea is the Zetta sanitizer line released last year.



Zetta is a staggering number denoting a factor of 10. The term “zetta” indicates the number of viruses and germs that our sanitizing products target. We applied the know-how we gained from making bug sprays to hand sanitizers and hand wash agents. We’ve addressed many of the problems raised by housewives in making the latest sanitizer brand. Over the past two decades we’ve grown to become the top manufacturer of home insecticides by satisfying customer needs. But now there is a rising call for anti-bacterial products that keep homes safe from germs. So DBK Korea is looking to go beyond insecticides and branch out to germ-fighting products. We look forward to another 20 years of success with our Zetta product line.

With the experience and technology gained in the field of insecticide, DBK Korea is looking to transform into a germicide manufacturer by rolling out its own line of sanitizers. The local and overseas homecare markets have reacted positively to DBK Korea’s hand sanitizers that remove 99.9% of germs. DBK Korea has earned consumer trust with its dedication to product quality and safety, and will continue to work hard in order to keep such customer loyalty.