Proton Therapy and Cancer Care in Korea: How It Works

Cancer care in Korea starts with your medical records, not with a flight: a Korean centre reviews your pathology report, imaging and treatment history first, and only then says what it can offer and how long you would need to stay. This guide is written for international patients and families considering treatment for a solid tumour in Korea, and for referring physicians who want to know what Korean centres ask for. It is published by the Korea International Medical Association (KIMA), a non-profit association that receives patient enquiries and passes them to registered Korean hospitals.

What cancer care in Korea looks like

Korea recorded 2,011,822 foreign patients in 2025, the first year above two million since counting began in 2009, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Oncology is one of the fields those patients travel for, alongside dermatology, plastic surgery and internal medicine, including health screening.

Most large Korean cancer centres run multidisciplinary clinics: a surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, radiologist and pathologist review the same case together and agree on a plan before treatment begins. For an international patient this matters in a practical way, because it means one coordinated plan rather than a series of separate opinions.

Radiotherapy options include intensity-modulated and stereotactic techniques at many hospitals, and particle therapy at a small number of centres. Proton therapy is available at National Cancer Center and Samsung Medical Center. Severance Hospital offers carbon-ion therapy at Yonsei Cancer Center, where treatment began in April 2023. Carbon-ion therapy uses accelerated carbon ions rather than protons and has a higher biological effect. It is used for selected tumours; the treating team determines suitability after reviewing the diagnosis, stage, tumour location and previous treatment. Severance Hospital: start of carbon-ion treatment.

Proton therapy is a form of external beam radiotherapy in which the beam deposits most of its dose at a set depth and then stops. That property is used where sparing the tissue behind the tumour matters: liver and lung tumours, oesophageal cancer, paediatric tumours, tumours close to the spinal cord, brainstem or optic nerves, and some cases of re-irradiation. It is one option among several, not a substitute for surgery or systemic therapy, and whether it suits a particular tumour is a decision the treating team makes after reviewing the case.

The pathway, step by step

1. Shortlist a centre. Use the Find Hospitals directory filtered to Cancer and note one or two institutions. You can also look through KIMA Doctors for the specialties involved.

2. Send one enquiry to KIMA. Submit it through Contact us. KIMA forwards your enquiry to the hospital you selected, and the hospital replies to you directly. The hospital may request medical records or further information before advising on treatment.

3. Prepare records. Centres usually ask for the pathology report (and often the slides or paraffin blocks), imaging on disc in DICOM format rather than printed images, recent blood tests, discharge summaries, a list of treatments already given with dates and doses, and your current medication. English or Korean translations speed the review.

4. Receive the hospital's answer. It normally states whether the case can be accepted, which department would lead, what additional tests are needed after arrival, and an outline schedule.

5. Re-staging on arrival. Most centres repeat key imaging and review the outside pathology themselves. Findings sometimes change the plan, so treat the pre-arrival outline as provisional.

6. Treatment planning. For radiotherapy this includes a planning CT, an immobilisation device and plan quality assurance before the first session; for proton plans this preparation commonly takes several days. Surgical and systemic plans have their own preparation steps.

7. Treatment and discharge. Ask for the discharge summary, pathology report, imaging on disc and a written follow-up schedule before you leave.

Stay length and visa

How long you stay depends on the plan, not on the diagnosis alone. A diagnostic visit or in-person second opinion is usually a matter of days. Surgery for an early tumour often means two to three weeks in Korea once recovery and the final histology report are counted. A course of radiotherapy is delivered on weekdays and runs from one or two weeks in short hypofractionated schedules to six or seven weeks in conventional ones. Systemic therapy given over several cycles usually means either repeat visits or shared care with a doctor at home. The hospital gives the actual range after the records review.

Korea issues medical treatment visas for patients and accompanying carers, with short-stay and longer-stay categories, and the hospital's confirmation documents are part of the application. Requirements and document lists change, so confirm the current rules with the hospital and the immigration authorities before booking flights.

What shapes the cost

Neither KHIDI nor the government's Medical Korea portal publishes a price list for treatment, so no honest article can quote a figure for your case. What you can plan around is the structure of the bill: the initial consultation and re-staging tests; the treatment itself; inpatient days; supportive care and medication; pathology and molecular testing; interpretation; and follow-up imaging.

The main variables are tumour type and stage, whether surgery is open, laparoscopic or robot-assisted, the radiotherapy technique and the number of fractions, the length of admission, any complications, and whether a carer travels with you. International patients without Korean national health insurance are billed as non-covered patients, which is a different basis from what Korean residents pay. For scale, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade estimated total medical tourism spending in Korea at about 12.5 trillion won in 2025. Ask for an itemised written estimate, and ask what is excluded from it.

Language support and follow-up

Hospitals that treat foreign patients must register with their metropolitan or provincial government under the Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Healthcare System and Attraction of Foreign Patients. Registered institutions appear in the Medical Korea directory, and each entry lists the languages the institution says it can support. Confirm interpretation services, supported languages and any related fees directly with the hospital you selected.

A 2026 amendment to the Act provides a legal basis for registered institutions to offer non-face-to-face care to foreign patients for pre- and post-treatment management, including consultation, diagnosis and prescription. It was promulgated on 26 May 2026 and takes effect on 27 May 2027. As of November 2026, these provisions are not yet in force. Ask the hospital what records-review and follow-up arrangements are currently available; submitting an enquiry does not itself constitute a remote medical consultation. Services must comply with Korean law and the law of the patient's country of residence. Legal basis and effective date.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask a Korean centre to review my case before I travel? Yes. Select a hospital in Find Hospitals and submit one enquiry through Contact us. KIMA forwards it to the hospital you selected, and the hospital responds directly. Sending your records in advance is what makes the answer useful.

Is proton therapy available for any cancer? No. It is used selectively, mainly where sparing nearby tissue is the deciding factor. The treating team decides after reviewing the pathology, imaging and previous treatment.

Which documents should I prepare first? The pathology report, imaging on disc in DICOM format, recent blood tests, discharge summaries, and a dated list of treatments already given. Slides or paraffin blocks are often requested as well.

Will someone interpret during consultations? Language support differs by institution. Ask the hospital you selected which languages it supports, whether an interpreter is available for your appointment and whether any fees apply.

Start here

1. Choose a hospital in Find Hospitals.

2. Submit your enquiry to KIMA through Contact us.

You can also reach KIMA at kimakorea@khidi.or.kr, on +82-2-362-7608~9, or by Instagram DM at @kima_int. Enquiries are handled in Korean, English and Russian.

This article is general information and is not a diagnosis or a treatment recommendation. Whether treatment is possible, along with the schedule and the cost, is determined after consultation with the medical institution.