How to Check a Medical Tourism Clinic Licence in Korea

A clinic in Seoul replies within minutes, the photographs look convincing, and you are asked for a deposit. Before that point, one question matters more than any review you read: is the clinic licensed and registered to treat international patients, and can you confirm that yourself?

Learning how to check a medical tourism clinic licence in Korea is not an insider skill. Korean law makes the register public, which turns verification into something you do rather than something a clinic claims. I am Dr. Jaesang Barn, Director at Banobagi in Gangnam, and I would rather a patient arrive having already checked us than arrive trusting a brochure.

This guide covers:

• what registration with the Ministry of Health and Welfare does and does not tell you
• the steps to verify a clinic, and the agency booking on your behalf
• how to confirm a board-certified plastic surgeon and who operates on the day
• what to get in writing before you pay a deposit or book a return flight

01What a medical tourism licence in Korea actually is

Under Korean law, only clinics registered with the Ministry of Health and Welfare may treat international patients. Registration is publicly searchable, which makes it something you can check rather than something a clinic can claim.

There are two separate registrations, and patients often confuse them:

• The medical institution. The clinic or hospital that examines you and operates.
• The attracting agency. The company that markets, books and arranges your trip. It registers separately from the clinic.
• What registration is not. It does not rank clinics, measure surgical skill, or predict your result.

02How to check a medical tourism clinic licence in Korea, step by step

Do this before any money moves. Each step takes minutes and none of it depends on the clinic's own website.

1. 01Write down the legal name and address. Not the brand on Instagram. Ours is Banobagi Plastic & Aesthetic Clinic at 517 Nonhyeon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and the same details appear on our clinic page and in our history and background.
2. 02Search the public register. Korean institutions registered to treat international patients are listed publicly through Medical Korea, operated by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. Search the clinic name and the district.
3. 03Search the agency separately. If a facilitator is booking your surgery, run its company name through the same register. A registered agency and an unregistered clinic is not a pass, and neither is the reverse.
4. 04Match the names on your paperwork. The name on your quote, invoice and receipt should be the registered institution. If the money goes to a third company, ask why in writing.
5. 05Ask the clinic directly and keep the reply. Registration details are a fair question, and a clinic that treats international patients answers it without hesitation. We hand ours over during the consultation; ask your coordinator for them in the same message you send your photos.

If a clinic will not give you its registered name in Korean and English, you have your answer at step one.

03Check the surgeon, not only the institution

A licence check tells you about the building and the company. The person holding the instruments is a separate check, and it is the one that international patients skip most often.

• Ask whether the operating surgeon is a board-certified plastic surgeon. Plastic surgery is a recognised specialty in Korea with its own board certification; ask for it plainly.
• Ask who operates, and get the name in writing. Banobagi uses a surgeon real-name system: the surgeon you consult is recorded as the surgeon who operates.
• Ask who manages anaesthesia, and whether that doctor works for the clinic or is booked for the day.
• Read the list before you write. Our surgeons and anaesthesiologists are named on the doctors page, and a coordinator matches your case to a surgeon before your consultation is booked.

The point of naming each stage is that a gap between consultation, surgery and follow-up becomes visible before you book rather than after you fly home.

04Inside the building: anaesthesia, monitoring and recovery

Registration confirms legal standing. What happens in the room is a different set of questions, and they are all answerable before you travel.

• Anaesthesia cover. Ask whether anaesthesiologists are employed by the clinic or hired per case. At Banobagi a team of anaesthesiologists is employed by the clinic, not booked per case.
• Monitoring during the procedure. Ask what monitoring is used and who watches it while the surgeon operates.
• Where you recover. Ask where you spend the hours after surgery, and where you spend the days between surgery and your flight.

Same-day discharge applies to many procedures and an overnight stay to others, which is a question for your surgeon rather than a general rule. We keep a facility for the days between surgery and the flight home, and recovery care is arranged there.

05What to confirm before you pay a deposit

Put every answer in one message thread so you can re-read it later. Where a clinic's policy differs from ours, that is normal; what matters is that you asked and received an answer.

Three answers should stop you: a refusal to name the operating surgeon, a deposit requested before any plan exists, and pressure to book a return flight before the plan is confirmed. Do not book a return flight until your surgeon has set your dates.

06Five misconceptions about licences and registration

1. 01"Registered means my result is settled." It does not. Registration describes legal standing and arrangements, not outcomes, and results vary from person to person.
2. 02"The agency is registered, so the clinic is fine." Two registers, two searches. Check both names.
3. 03"A published price list proves the clinic is straightforward." We do not publish a fixed price list, because the same procedure name covers different plans on different faces. You receive a personalised quote after our team reviews your photos; the reasoning is set out in our guide to what sets your quote.
4. 04"An online consultation is a diagnosis." It is a consultation and a plan. Remote care for international patients was written into the Act on Supporting Overseas Expansion of Healthcare and Attracting International Patients, but that provision takes effect in May 2027; until then, remote sessions cover options, stay length and cost range, and the surgical plan is confirmed in person on the day you arrive.
5. 05"The before-and-after gallery is the real proof." Photographs are evidence of a style, not of your result. Read them with lighting, angle and swelling stage in mind, our guide on reading before-and-after photos explains how, and our before-and-after page shows the cases we publish. If you are planning the whole trip, the step-by-step guide for foreign patients covers stay length and aftercare.

One thing we do not recommend is treating a fast reply as a licence. Registration is a record you can look up yourself, and a clinic that will not put its legal name and its operating surgeon in writing has answered your question without meaning to. Ask before you send a deposit, not after.

07Summary

• Only clinics registered with the Ministry of Health and Welfare may treat international patients in Korea, and that register is public.
• Check the clinic and the booking agency separately, using legal names rather than brand names.
• Ask for the operating surgeon to be named in writing, and ask whether anaesthesiologists are employed by the clinic.
• Confirm what a quote includes, where you recover, and who you contact once you are home.
• Registration and arrangements are things you can verify in advance; outcomes are not, and they differ between individuals.

Send two photos on WhatsApp with what you want to change, and ask your coordinator for our registration details in the same message. Recovery and results differ from person to person, and your surgical plan is confirmed in person on the day you arrive.

Results and recovery differ from person to person. This article is general information, not a diagnosis — your surgeon confirms what suits you at consultation.