Bringing Prescription Medicine into Korea: The Approval Your Prescription Doesn't Cover

You can have a valid prescription, a pharmacy label with your name on it, and a doctor's letter, and still have your medicine held at Incheon Airport (인천국제공항). That's the part people find out too late.

Here's the rule in one line: most medicine only has to look like personal use, but anything Korea classes as a narcotic or psychotropic drug needs government approval before you board. That second group includes many common sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs and ADHD stimulants.

Please note: This is general information, not medical or legal advice. Korea's rules on carrying medicine change, and this guide reflects official Korean government notices as checked on October 25, 2026. Confirm with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety before you travel, and talk to your doctor about your own medication.

Which kind of medicine are you carrying?

Everything else follows from this table. Check every active ingredient, not the brand name.

Methylphenidate is a psychotropic drug under Korean law, which is why ADHD medicine can end up in the right-hand column even when it's routine at home.

Adderall and other amphetamine-based medicine: Korean legal guides list amphetamine as a controlled psychotropic, so at a minimum it falls under the approval rule. We couldn't find an official MFDS statement on whether approval is ever granted, and several travel and relocation guides report that it isn't. Don't pack it on the assumption that it will be fine. Ask MFDS before you travel, and if the answer is no, talk to your doctor about an alternative for the trip.

How do you get MFDS approval?

The application is online, on MFDS's Drug Safety Korea site (nedrug.mfds.go.kr). The menu item to look for is in Korean: 자가치료용 마약류 휴대 반입 민원 신청 (application to carry narcotics for self-treatment). You'll need to register an account on the site before the form opens. Inside, according to the Korea Herald, the form is in Korean with English field labels, and MFDS publishes a user manual in English. You apply yourself. Nobody can apply on your behalf.

What you'll upload, according to the Korean Embassy in Japan's notice (posted August 2026):

1. Passport copy with the photo and passport number clearly visible.
2. Flight e-ticket showing your entry and exit dates and inbound flight.
3. Doctor's letter (diagnosis) with the clinic, your name, the doctor's name and signature, the diagnosis, the drug name with its active ingredient, how to take it, the single and daily dose, the total quantity, and the date.
4. The prescription, showing the active ingredient, dose and total quantity.
5. Or, instead of 3 and 4: an export approval for the medicine issued by a government agency of the country you're travelling from, if it issues one.

Documents must be in Korean or English. Anything else needs a notarized translation into Korean or English, submitted with the original.

Timing is the bit people miss. MFDS's legal processing period is 10 business days, and a late or incomplete application can be rejected. Ten business days is at least two calendar weeks, longer if a Korean public holiday falls in between. Apply three weeks out and you have room to answer a follow-up question.

What are the common mistakes?

Here's where people get caught, and it's often not the medicine they were worried about.

• The cold medicine in your washbag. Korean press coverage of Customs' 2025 summer crackdown gave US cold medicine containing dextromethorphan and Japanese painkillers containing allylisopropylacetylurea as examples of medicine with a psychotropic ingredient. The Korea Herald flags dextromethorphan in some versions of DayQuil too. Check the label before you pack the travel-size box.
• Melatonin. Sold as a supplement in the US and elsewhere, it's a prescription drug in Korea, and Korean press reports that its import is restricted.
• Carrying medicine for someone else. You can't bring controlled medicine in another person's name, and approval can't be applied for through a proxy.
• Mailing it ahead. Sending narcotic or psychotropic medicine by post or courier is banned. It travels with you, in your cabin bag.
• Packing extra "just in case." Anything over the approved amount is held at customs and returned or destroyed. The quantity has to match your stay, with up to 5 days' spare for delays.

What if approval doesn't come through, or you're staying longer?

Approval covers a maximum of 90 days. If you're staying three months or more, or MFDS turns the application down, the official guidance is to get a prescription in Korea instead. That means seeing a doctor here, which our guide to getting sick in Seoul walks through, from international clinics to how pharmacies fill prescriptions.

Don't try to bring it in anyway. Breaking Korea's narcotics law is a criminal matter, and according to the Korea Herald, foreign nationals can face deportation or restrictions on coming back.

Who can you ask before you fly?

• MFDS Narcotics Policy Division: +82-43-719-2813.
• Incheon Airport Customs: Terminal 1 +82-32-722-4422 · Terminal 2 +82-32-723-5119.

Still filling in your entry forms? K-ETA and the e-Arrival Card are a separate step, covered in what you actually need to enter Korea.

Soo's Tip

Before you apply, put your medicine list in one column and the active ingredients in the next. If one of them is on the controlled side, apply for that drug. Everything else in your bag just has to look like personal use.

Note: General information only, not medical or legal advice. Rules can change; checked October 25, 2026 against Korean government notices. Confirm with MFDS before you travel.