Korea AI Basic Healthcare Strategy Targets Global Biohealth Leadership

South Korea has put artificial intelligence at the centre of its healthcare agenda as it chases a larger share of the global biohealth market. The government’s Korea AI Basic Healthcare Strategy, announced on 22 July, sits alongside a USD 30.4 billion export target that Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Hyung Hoon says will establish the country as “the world’s most trusted health partner.”

Lee joined the Ministry of Health and Welfare through Korea’s national civil service examination in 1995 and brings three decades of public service to the role. In an interview with PharmaBoardroom, he argued that the country’s universal coverage model and its willingness to adopt new technology give it an edge that few rivals can match.

A universal system that must keep innovating

Korea’s National Health Insurance has been built in stages. It began in 1977, covering corporations with more than 500 workers as well as public officials and teachers, then expanded to universal coverage in 1989. The separate insurers that ran the system were consolidated into a single National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) in 2000, a reform Lee watched his senior colleagues carry out early in his career.

Former US President Barack Obama has publicly praised the system as a model worth copying. Lee says universality and innovation will stay the two guiding principles of Korean health policy, with coverage expanded and regional and essential services reinforced so patients receive timely care wherever they live.

A USD 30.4 billion biohealth ambition

Korea ranks second worldwide in approved biosimilars and third in the number of pharmaceutical pipelines. Seoul has also become one of the world’s leading clinical trial hubs, ranking second globally in the number of projects. These strengths underpin an export target of USD 30.4 billion.

Lee credits the same creativity that carried Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and BTS to global prominence for Korea’s edge in healthcare, pointing to an openness to change and a willingness to turn bold ideas into reality.

Korea AI Basic Healthcare Strategy and the human touch

The strategy, announced on 22 July at a meeting chaired by the President, pursues three goals: delivering AI-driven healthcare innovation that people can use in daily life, building nationwide digital infrastructure for AI-enabled care, and creating a sustainable AI healthcare ecosystem. It responds to the concentration of patients in large metropolitan hospitals, declining access to care in some regions, and limited emergency services.

Lee is clear that AI will not replace doctors. He sees it cutting time on tasks such as electronic medical record documentation so that clinicians can focus on patients, and he stresses that the use of clinical and health data will comply fully with Korea’s privacy laws.

R&D spending and supply chain resilience

The Ministry’s healthcare R&D budget has risen steadily over the past five years and is expected to pass KRW 1 trillion for the first time in 2026. The money targets innovative medicines and advanced medical devices, infectious disease preparedness including what the government calls “Disease X”, cancer and dementia research, and regenerative medicine for rare and incurable diseases. The Ministry also plans to identify 30 national strategic technologies for targeted support.

On supply chains, Korea is expanding production capacity for medicines facing shortages, stockpiling essential medicines, and promoting the use of domestically produced raw materials. In response to geopolitical disruption, including the situation in the Middle East, the government has formed a public-private consultative body and is prioritising raw material security, access to treatment for rare diseases, and adjustments to National Health Insurance reimbursement rates that reflect exchange rate and cost pressures.

A regional physician system to close gaps

To bridge regional healthcare gaps, the government plans to support an average of 668 regional physicians a year over the next five years. From the 2027 academic year, 32 medical schools will introduce dedicated admission tracks, with selected students receiving support for tuition, education and housing in return for ten years of service in designated regions.

Lee acknowledges that mandatory service alone will not keep doctors in place. The aim, he says, is to make regional practice a rewarding career path with professional fulfilment and a sense of purpose, in line with World Health Organization recommendations.

Opening Korea to the world

Korea is sharing its experience through the Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing, run in partnership with the WHO, and the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Fellowship Programme, established in 2006. Last year, 2.01 million foreign patients travelled to Korea for medical treatment, passing two million for the first time.

In June, Newsweek’s Asia-Pacific hospital rankings placed Korean hospitals first in nine of ten specialties assessed. Lee reads this as growing international trust in Korea’s healthcare, part of a longer arc that began with the country’s transformation from an aid recipient after the Korean War into a donor state, the “Miracle on the Han River”.

“Korea aims to be more than a country with advanced medical technology,” he said. “We aspire to become the world’s most trusted health partner.”

Source: PharmaBoardroom, Lee Hyung Hoon, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea