Travelers may now carry obesity medicines such as Wegovy and Mounjaro into South Korea when the drugs were prescribed and purchased abroad through normal medical procedures. The revised standard applies to medicines brought in personally for the traveler’s own treatment and generally permits a supply covering no more than three months.
The basic quantity threshold is six containers, but travelers may exceed that number when the medicine’s prescribed dosing schedule shows that the total remains within a three-month supply. For once-weekly GLP-1 obesity treatments, authorities have indicated that 12 doses can represent three months of use.
- Permitted supply
- Up to three months for personal treatment
- Weekly GLP-1 treatment
- Twelve doses may represent a three-month supply
- Delivery method
- Personal carriage only, not international mail or express shipping
The same principle covers medicine prescribed during overseas travel, unused medicine taken out of South Korea and later brought back, and medicine used by foreign residents or students under prescriptions obtained where they had been living. The change is limited to drugs carried by the traveler. It does not permit purchases from overseas websites to be delivered through international mail or express shipping.
Closely spaced repeat entries remain restricted
Customs authorities say the three-month allowance cannot be used to justify repeated trips made shortly after an earlier entry. A traveler who imports three months of medicine and returns a week later with another three-month supply may not be regarded as carrying the drug solely for personal treatment. Previous customs inspections are recorded, and a shipment within the duty-free allowance does not automatically prevent another inspection. Frequent travelers may also be selected for additional screening.
No separate system has been introduced to verify every prescription or independently establish whether each supply is intended for personal use. That leaves customs officers to identify unusual repeat entries through existing inspection procedures and travel records. Narcotics and psychotropic medicines remain subject to their existing controls, including any requirement for advance approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.