In 2018, the Korean government introduced a landfill levy under the Framework Act on Resource Circulation. This was a fiscal measure to ensure that landfill waste disposal is priced so as to reflect its environmental cost and to help promote more sustainable waste management. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the landfill levy as a landfill policy instrument in Korea. In this study, a literature survey was conducted on the existing theoretical and empirical insights to the effectiveness of landfill taxes, including experiences in several EU countries. This survey shows that if landfill taxes are to be effective in terms of reducing the amount of waste going to landfills, the tax rate should be put at a fairly high level. It should be noted that the landfill tax rates should be set based on the external cost of landfill disposal. In addition, it appears that the landfill tax has not significantly affected generated waste per capita in the EU. The landfill tax can result in negative effects. Due to the reduction of waste sent to landfills, there is a risk that landfill operators will not be able to fulfil their financial obligations for closure and aftercare. Additionally, after closure and construction of the surface sealing, the emissions potential of the waste body remains more or less constant, resulting in the extended time-scale and uncertain funding of the post-closure period. This is a problem applicable to most landfills that contain inorganic waste. Thus, landfill operators should be stimulated by means of appropriate regulations to stabilize the waste body as much as possible to guarantee the lowest possible emission potential. This requires financial incentives, which are implemented to encourage operators to actively advance the stabilization of landfill waste.