When getting a prescription in Korea, you’ll get it in packing similar to this. Each pharmacy (약국, 藥局, yakguk) will have their own unique paper wrapper stating the name of the patient, the medicine enclosed, and how often to take it. In the example below, we can see the instructions (복용법, 服用法, bogyongbeop) state each day (1일, 1日, 1 il) the medicine should be consumed 3 times (3회, 3回, 3 hoe) for a total of 2 days (2일분, 2 ilbun).

Some pharmacies will also write the name of the patient on the individual dosages, sometimes with numbers, for example 005/006 stating dosage #5 out of #6. If the dosage differs for different meals, meals will be written so you know which to consume with breakfast (아침, achim), lunch (점심, 點心, jeomsim), or dinner (저녁, jeonyeok).

If your name and other related information are not printed on the individual servings, don’t worry as this isn’t a problem. Just remember that one packet is one dose.

Usually patients will receive several kinds of medications, so they package them together. Less common are blister packs, which are presorted and packaged by the pharmaceutical company. Sometime they are given in conjunction with the type shown above.

If you do not end up consuming all of the prescription, you’ll need to dispose of it. Different countries have different systems for properly disposing of unused medicine. In Korea, remove all the does from the serving packaging, including removing all the pills from blister packs. Place everything into a plastic baggie, and give it to any pharmacist. As the pharmacists are doing this as a service, it is better to reduce some of their manual labor by removing everything from their packages. There are no papers to sign, there is no fee to pay.

While pharmacies are usually located next door to a hospital or a medical clinic, they are easy to find in other parts of town as well. The Korean word for pharmacy is 약국 (藥局, yakguk) but is frequently abbreviated to 약 (藥, yak) which means "medicine". In order for you to more easily identify them, here are some pharmacy signs.