Sick During Chuseok? One Site Finds Every Open Hospital and Pharmacy
Chuseok is Korea's harvest holiday, roughly equivalent to Thanksgiving, and this year it runs four days, from September 24 to 27. Most clinics and pharmacies close during this stretch, which is an unnerving prospect if you happen to get a stomach bug or an injury while visiting. Fortunately, there are still ways to find a place that's open.
At a glance: Sept 24-27, Chuseok holiday · E-Gen (e-gen.or.kr), the emergency medical portal run by Korea's National Emergency Medical Center, lets you search by region, date and department for hospitals and pharmacies open at that hour · By phone: Ministry of Health and Welfare call center 129, or 120 in Seoul (Dasan Call Center) · The same information is available through the "Emergency Medical Information" smartphone app.
E-Gen's interface is built mainly in Korean, but keeping a translation app open while you select your region and date is usually enough to navigate it. The 129 and 120 phone lines are also mostly Korean-language, but in an emergency simply reading out your location can get you directed to the nearest hospital or pharmacy on duty.
If the language barrier feels like too much, the fastest option is asking your hotel front desk or guesthouse staff to make the call for you. If you're carrying travel insurance, call the insurer's 24-hour hotline before heading to an emergency room to confirm the process — it makes reimbursement far simpler afterward. Basic over-the-counter items like fever reducers or digestive aids can sometimes be found at convenience stores without a prescription, so for minor symptoms, that's worth checking first.