Dear Dr. P,

I will be coming to Korea to work and will be accompanied by my two adopted sons. They are taking Vyvanse 70 mg for ADHD and Seroquel 400 mg to sleep. Will I be able to bring these prescription drugs into Korea?

Dear sender,

You are concerned about the ADHD treatment for your adopted sons. The majority of the medicines produced in the U.S are available in Korea too. Some of them are imported from the U.S directly, and others are produced in generic forms in Korea. Therefore, you will be able to get a prescription for Seroquel at a psychiatric clinic here without any problem.

But there are some exceptions, such as Adderall and Vyvanse for ADHD. Aderall (amphetamin and dextroamphetamin mixed salts) is the most popular ADHD medicine in the U.S and Vyvanse (lisdextroamphetamin disesylate) is a medicine that has been developed recently. But Korean pharmaceutical companies cannot import both drugs. The reason may be because there are prejudices against the amphetamine constituents, which are classified as illegal drugs in Korea.

So I would like to recommend you to bring enough Vyvanse or discuss with your son’s doctor switching from Vyvanse to another ADHD medicine that is available in Korea. Concerta, Metadate CD, Medikinet, and Strattera are widely used ADHD medicines in Korea.

Dear Dr. P,

Greetings to you dear doctor, I am a teacher in Korea and taught in Korea before for over three years now. While studying abroad I met the man I want to marry. We were not able to get married in India due to legal restrictions and my visa expired before we could legalize things. We have a son together now but still not a legal marriage certificate.

I have come back to Korea to work and my fiance will arrive in Korea in a week’s time. He will be studying his PhD via correspondence through a University in Australia. We wish to get registered as soon as possible. How do we go about getting a marriage certificate in Korea without a church wedding. We just want something fast, economical and once again ... fast. He needs to fly out again soon to register in Australia and we need the marriage certificate so that our son and I can visit him easily in Australia and so that he can easily return to Korea and visit us. Please help!

Dear sender,

As you may know, I am a psychiatrist. Therefore, I am not sure whether I can provide you with a proper answer to this question. I believe it would be much more helpful to you if you consult with an international lawyer.

Just in case, I am leaving the contact information of an acquaintance who is working as an international lawyer at “IPG Legal,’’ located at Seocho-dong in Seoul.

Sean Hayes
Cell phone: 010-8981-9518
Office: (02) 585-5253
E-mail: seanhayes@ipglegal.com

I hope you will get a satisfying answer from him.

Park Jin-seung is a psychiatrist who runs a clinic for foreigners in Seoul and operates a personal therapist forum on www.lifeinkorea.com. For counceling, please submit your questions to mdoctor@korea.com or call the hotline at 02-563-0678.