How to check if a clinic is registered for foreign patients
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What registration means
Under Korea's Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Medical Services and Attraction of Foreign Patients, a medical institution must register with the city or provincial government before it attracts foreign patients, for example through foreign-language websites or registered agencies (Article 6(1)). In Seoul, registration is made with the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) publishes the list of registered institutions.
Registration allows a clinic to attract foreign patients under Korean law. Any clinic can treat a foreign visitor who walks in.
Who counts as a foreign patient
The Act defines a foreign patient as a foreigner who is not enrolled in Korea's National Health Insurance, either as a subscriber or as a dependant. Foreigners who live in Korea, as set out in a Ministry of Health and Welfare ordinance, are excluded (Article 2, item 2).
Check it yourself
- Open the Registered Hospitals page on Medical Korea, the site run by KHIDI and the Korea Tourism Organization.
- Choose the region (for example, Seoul) and search by the clinic's English name.
- The English name in that list may be spelled differently from the clinic's own website. If you cannot find it, search the Korean-language list by the Korean name shown on Seoulpin.
Seoulpin takes registration from the KHIDI list published on data.go.kr, last checked 4 October 2026. A clinic's status can change after that date.
What registration does not tell you
- Registration is not an assessment of the clinic's care.
- It says nothing about fees or language support.
- It does not cover the doctors' individual qualifications.