Full transcript
0:00As demand for weight loss medication
0:02soars worldwide, Korea is no exception.
0:05Yet, the rapid surge in popularity is
0:08fueling a concerning rise in
0:10indiscriminate and potentially unsafe
0:12use. Ever since weight loss drugs were
0:14officially launched in Korea, [music]
0:16demand has skyrocketed. What started
0:19with celebrities suddenly appearing on
0:20screen noticeably slimmer [music]
0:22has now spread to the general public
0:24with more people turning to these drugs
0:27to shed pounds.
0:28>> [music]
0:28>> Reports suggest that these drugs are
0:30also being prescribed for cosmetic
0:32weight loss to individuals with a normal
0:34BMI who have no medical need for them.
0:36[music]
0:36According to data from the Health
0:38Insurance Review and Assessment Service,
0:40305,790 [music]
0:42prescriptions for Wegovy and Mounjaro
0:45were issued and sold in the first
0:46quarter of 2026. [music]
0:49During the same period, roughly 200,000
0:51people in Seoul met the medical
0:53threshold for these drugs, which
0:55requires a BMI of 30 or above. Because
0:58prescriptions surpassed the target
1:00population [music] by more than 100,000,
1:02experts suspect a large share was issued
1:05for non-medical reasons, reflecting
1:06[music] a sharp rise in cosmetic weight
1:08loss demand. Mirroring this growing
1:10obsession with weight loss, legal
1:12attempts to import these medications
1:14have [music] surged since their official
1:16release in Korea. Data from the Korea
1:18Customs Service reveals that 4,155
1:22illegal import attempts were detected in
1:24the first half of this year alone,
1:26>> [music]
1:26>> 3.5 times the figure for the entire
1:28previous year. Most of these cases
1:31involved people buying the drugs from
1:33unapproved overseas website and shipping
1:35them into the country via international
1:37mail. Illicit import cases [music]
1:39surged from only four in 2024 to 5,348
1:44over the past 2 and 1/2 years. By
1:46comparison, official importers cleared
1:48just 596 shipments through customs over
1:51that same time frame.
2:05>> Hey.