Night Pharmacy Finder

About Night Pharmacy Finder

Most neighborhood pharmacies in Korea close by 10 p.m. This tool reads weekday opening hours from the National Medical Center's nationwide pharmacy registry and filters nearby pharmacies by "open now", "open late tonight" (until 11 p.m. or later), Saturday and Sunday, sorted by distance. The data covers South Korea only.

"Open now" and "late" are worked out for the moment you search, converted to Korea Standard Time (UTC+9), so the result is right even if your phone is still on your home time zone.

Public late-night pharmacies: 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Korea's public late-night pharmacies (gonggong simya yakguk) are designated and funded by local governments to dispense medicine and give advice when little else is open. The scheme began as a health ministry pilot in July 2022, and the standard hours are 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. every day of the year.

The registry does not mark which pharmacies are designated, so the tool relies on reported hours. The "open late" filter keeps both designated pharmacies and those that simply stay open late. Official lists are on city and district government websites.

With or without a prescription

Korea separates prescribing and dispensing: a clinic writes the prescription and a pharmacy fills it. If you saw a doctor late, the pharmacy next to the clinic may already be closed, and a late-night pharmacy may not stock your medicine. Call with the drug name before you go.

If you only need a painkiller or an antacid, convenience stores are an option. Under Article 44-2 of Korea's Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, shops open 24 hours a day, every day of the year can register to sell a short list of household medicines chosen by the health minister: fever and pain relievers, cold remedies, digestives and medicated patches. Thirteen products are designated, fewer are actually on sale because some have been discontinued, and they cannot be sold to children under 12.

When the hours are wrong

Hours are self-reported and late-night pharmacies are often run by a single pharmacist, so early closures happen. Call before a late trip.

On public holidays the tool uses each pharmacy's registered holiday hours. For 2023-2027 it knows every Korean public holiday, including Seollal, Chuseok, Buddha's Birthday, substitute holidays and election days; other years fall back to the fixed solar-calendar holidays. Pharmacies that registered no holiday hours show their normal weekday hours, so over long weekends also check the local government's list of pharmacies open during the holiday.

The registry is refreshed by district every three months. If that cache is down, the tool falls back to a live location search that only returns today's hours, so Saturday and Sunday filters may not work in that case.

Worked examples

How to use it

1. Tap "My location" or search for an area in Korea.
2. Turn on open now, late, Saturday or Sunday as needed.
3. Tap a pharmacy for today's hours and phone number, then open directions.

Frequently asked questions