Health ministry tightens oversight of over-the-counter medicine sales after 480 violations

The health ministry said Tuesday it will tighten on-site management of retailers that sell non-prescription emergency medicines after a six-year inspection found 480 violations, including 32 cases of selling more than the permitted single package at a time.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the checks covered about 40,000 outlets nationwide, with 80,298 inspections carried out from 2021 through July of this year. The 480 violations amounted to about 1.2 percent of those inspections, and each drew a penalty appropriate to the case, ranging from registration cancellation to fines.

Failure to report a closure or suspension of business was the most common problem, at 365 cases, or 76 percent of the total. Another 36 cases, 7.5 percent, fell short of the registration standard for around-the-clock operation.

Sales exceeding the one-package limit accounted for 32 cases, or 6.7 percent of violations. Such cases have clustered in the past two years: one case in 2021, none from 2022 through 2024, 27 last year and four in the first seven months of 2026.

Kwak Soon-heon, the ministry's director-general for health and medical policy, said basic safety standards must hold at the point of sale.

"Because non-prescription emergency medicines are products the public buys easily in daily life, it is important that basic safety standards are strictly observed at sales sites," Kwak said. "We will continue to strengthen guidance and inspections in cooperation with local governments so that people can buy them with confidence."

The ministry said it will focus its field management on the leading categories of violations to make the checks more effective, working with municipal authorities.