From ‘sushijaro’ in Japan to ‘jjajangjaro’ in China, online forums give nicknames to Mounjaro travelers can now bring home with prescription for personal use
In South Korean online forums devoted to Mounjaro, users were comparing flights to Japan and swapping tips on where to get a prescription Friday, as new rules took effect allowing travelers to bring home medicines prescribed and purchased abroad for their own use.
“If I can get a cheap flight, a day trip to Fukuoka would cost about 700,000 won ($520), including airfare and a three-month supply of 5-milligram Mounjaro,” one user wrote.
“In Korea, I’d pay more than 1 million won for the same amount, even with a 10 percent local currency discount.”
Forum users call Mounjaro obtained in Japan “sushijaro,” a blend of “sushi” and “Mounjaro.” Mounjaro obtained in China goes by “jjajangjaro,” a nod to the black bean sauce in jjajangmyeon, a popular Korean Chinese noodle dish.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Customs Service announced the change Wednesday and put it into effect the following day.
The agencies said they had received “repeated complaints from travelers whose medicines were held at customs even though they had been properly prescribed and purchased.”
Travelers can carry up to six containers of medicine into South Korea for their own treatment if the drug is approved in the country where it was prescribed and purchased.
If the dosing instructions call for more than six containers, travelers can bring in up to a three-month supply.
Weight-loss injections gained popularity in South Korea after Wegovy became available in October 2024. Mounjaro followed in August 2025.
South Korean medical facilities and pharmacies received about 11.4 million single-use Mounjaro pens worth 1.01 trillion won in the first half of 2026, according to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service obtained by Rep. Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The rollout drew criticism Friday at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee.
People Power Party Rep. Lee Man-hee questioned how customs officers could determine whether medicines brought in on repeat trips were for personal use without a system to track what travelers had previously brought into the country.
“A grace period could have reduced confusion on the ground,” Lee said. “The two agencies should first agree on how to handle repeat imports.”
Food and Drug Safety Minister Oh Yu-kyoung said the agencies had acted quickly in response to public complaints.
“There were a number of requests to address the inconvenience as soon as possible,” she said.
Before the rule change, the Korea Customs Service detected 5,030 cases of unauthorized imports of weight-loss drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy in the first eight months of 2026, more than four times the 1,189 cases recorded in all of 2025.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
